Reprinted from The Standard.

The publicity onslaught on Auckland Council this week was somewhat predictable although it could have been handled better. There were some pretty simple mistakes made. The spending of $1,296.60 excluding GST on a small celebration after the budget passed was bound to attract attention. Clearly it did not matter how much or how little the amount was it was always going to be news. Spending council money on a celebration after rather significant increases had been passed was insensitive and gave the Herald and others the perfect opportunity to attack. Although I should note that as an employer I regularly put on drinks for my staff and in that regard can see nothing wrong in principle in Council doing the same.
A whole lot of figures have been thrown about concerning the increase and horror stories of $1,000 plus increases in yearly rates have been talked…