Auckland councillors have agreed on the first round of spending for the next financial year, even though the full budget won’t be agreed for another two months.
After three years with no funding increase, Auckland Museum will get a 3% increase to $33,260,000 for the 2023/2024 financial year. However, that’s nearly $2m less than the museum asked for and less than half the rate of inflation. At that level of funding, the museum is forecast to have a $7.76m deficit.
Museum chief executive, David Gaimster, told councillors at a meeting in late April that Covid-19 had severely limited the organisation’s ability to generate income.
The museum had reduced staff numbers and services, Gaimster said. But with council funding stalled since 2019, the museum was running deficits to deliver services and the situation had the potential to cause an “ongoing and structural deficit”.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 sets out how Auckland Council funds the museum with the annual levy required to be decided by April 30. Council’s overall budget won’t be adopted until June 29.
This includes $372,250 to fund the Arafa board.
Credit: stuff.co.nz
