Phil Goff’s Ioniq helps save Auckland mayoral office money

Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s electric car, a Hyundai Ioniq, is helping deliver on his promise to run a more frugal office than his predecessor Len Brown.

The mayor is entitled to a car for civic and private use as part of the salary package set by the Remuneration Authority, Radio NZ reports.

Brown preferred black Holden Commodores.

But Goff didn’t want a V6 Calais ($66,000 retail), preferring an electric car from the council’s corporate fleet.

However, the Nissan Leaf had too short a range to get the mayor from his Clevedon home and around the region on a tight timetable.

So the council got the Ioniq ($60,000 retail) just for the mayor’s use. A change in its accounting practices moved the car’s running costs onto the council’s books.

In 2013-14 the mayoral car’s running costs added $27,432 to the mayoral office budget. That’s no longer the case.

Staff are the main office expense. The mix and numbers are similar to Brown’s last term when he had 22 full or part-timers, while Goff has 18. The difference is Goff drives himself, meaning two who shared the job of driving Brown around town no longer have that role.