Auckland council spending more Pollock than Picasso

(Image: BusinessDesk)

Mon, 02 Oct 2023

Booking US billionaire Julian Robertson’s bequeathed art collection boosted the Auckland council’s non-cash revenues by $178 million, helping paint a better picture of the council’s finances during a year where operating expenses blew out in almost every respect.Spending at the country’s largest local authority was at $5.3 billion for the year to June, up $599m on the prior year. One of the contributors to that was employee benefit expenses, which at $1.12b, were $34m over budget. The council's asset base increa...

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