Auckland Council assets

The Herald reports on a report which values various assets owned by Auckland Council, and how much they could get for them.  Rather than borrow billions of dollars, they could free up capital from these assets. It’s what most rational organisations would do.

The list includes:

• Watercare $8.5 billion
• 5% of parks and reserves $2.3 billion
• Airport shares $1.4 billion
• Four golf courses $1.4 billion
• Port shares $1.1 billion
• Mt Eden volcanic view shafts $0.4 billion
• Pensioner houses $0.2 billion

Increasing rates by 10% and having debt double is a political decision. There are alternatives.