Auckland City Council was the local government

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

 authority representing Auckland City

Auckland City

Auckland City was the city and local authority covering the Auckland isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, in the North Island of New Zealand. On 1 November 2010 it was amalgamated into the wider Auckland Region under the authority of the new Auckland Council...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council

Auckland Council

The Auckland Council is the council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It began operating on 1 November 2010, combining the functions of the existing regional council and the region's seven previous city and district councils into one "super council" or "super city" governed by a mayor, 20...

 on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents (2006 census) of the city (which included some of the Hauraki Gulf

Hauraki Gulf

The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...

 islands such as Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is an island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, located about from Auckland.The island is the second-largest in the Hauraki Gulf after Great Barrier Island. It is the most populated, with nearly 8,000 permanent residents plus another estimated 3,400 who have second or holiday homes...

 and Great Barrier Island

Great Barrier Island

Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...

). It was chaired by the Mayor of Auckland

Mayor of Auckland

The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland region in New Zealand...

.

Finances

In the financial year ending June 2007, Auckland City Council had operating revenue

Revenue

In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....

 of NZ$552 million, of which 68% came from Council rates

Rates (tax)

Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...

, which were NZ$859 per ratepayer on average. It expended NZ$343 million on capital projects, of which 45% went to 'transport' expenses, 19% to 'property and asset management' and 17% to 'open spaces, parks and streetscapes', while 10% were spent on 'stormwater and waste management'. Another 7% were spent on 'arts and culture' and 2% on 'zoo, recreational facilities and community development'. The operating surplus

Operating surplus

Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics (such as United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA)...

was NZ$40.3 million.

Elections

The councillors and the mayor of Auckland City were elected every three years. In the 2007 elections, the voter turnout was 39.4%, down from 48% in 2004 and 43% in 2001.

Functions

Amongst its other functions, the city council administered more than 700 parks and reserves throughout the country (2008 data). It also had, amongst other things, 2214 km of footpaths, though these were often in bad condition (30% being rated as "poor" or "very poor" quality), a matter often discussed in the media, especially after the 2008 elected council chose to reduce the annual upgrade budget by NZ$39 million to $218 million and reduced the budget for new footpaths from NZ$39.5 million to $5.7 million, as part of their campaign to reduce rates increases.

Auckland City, as part of its landscaping programmes, had planted more than 103,000 trees since 2002, with about 16,000 new trees in 2008, a rate that was estimated at about four times the trimming and removal rate of public and private trees.