Auckland councillors are about to make a decision on the centrepiece of this year’s council budget – the sale of publicly-owned shares in Auckland International Airport (AIAL). In fact, selling the airport shares was pitched by council managers to the previous mayor Phil Goff several times – and firmly rejected. It is my personal belief the present council finance ‘deficit’ crisis has been hyped to force the sale of airport shares. Moreover, despite Mayor Brown dismissing the airport shares as a ‘lousy investment’, since last October the share price has increased by over 21%. Revealingly, this dividend has not been factored into the council’s budget.
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