Just two weeks ago, the Royal Commission recommended that Auckland should have one City Council for the whole of Auckland instead of eight smaller councils. See March 27th 2009. Today the government agreed that there should be just one council of 20 people and one mayor, but they did not agree with everything that the Royal Commission recommended.
The government is worried that it would be hard to know about local problems if there was just one big city council. The Royal Commission recommended six small local councils but the government thinks there should be 20 to 30 local councils so that more local people have a voice. However, these councils would not have staff or funding so it is not clear if they will have any power.
The government also did not agree that there should be three Maori representatives. It is better to have Maori people elected to the council. All Aucklanders will be able to vote for eight council members. The other 12 will be voted by their own ward which is another word for district. People who live in the Rodney, Waitakere, Manukau, North Shore and other local districts will all pay rates to the Auckland city. Some people, especially those people living in Manukau, are worried that their rates will increase.
The Royal Commission report was only 11 days ago and already the government is moving fast to make the changes happen before next year.