Majority of Heart of the City board resigns, asks for funding freeze

The majority of the Heart of the City board have resigned, and are asking the council to stop funding the organisation until it is sure it is providing value for money.

It comes after an employment dispute with chief executive Viv Beck, and a planned coup by some central Auckland businesses.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the executive committee said issues with the organisation's governance and register of members could not be resolved without spending a significant amount of public money.

"Having identified that further use of public funding and resources will not provide value for money to central city, at a time where that should be invested to the economic benefit of the whole city centre."

Six out of the seven board members have resigned - including chair Malcolm McCracken and secretary Chand Sahrawat - saying it was the most responsible action they could take.

The outgoing executive committee said Heart of the City had no accurate register of how many members it had, which meant it was in breach of its Business Improvement District contract with Auckland Council.

The executive committee also recommended that the council withhold funding for the organisation, until it was certain that it was providing value for money.

Funding for Heart of the City is collected from commercial property owners in the city centre by Auckland council through a targeted rate.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said there seemed to be a systemic issue with Heart of the City.

Brown said he would be seeking urgent advice from staff about the organisation's "dysfunction".

"I want to be very clear that our CBD and its businesses deserve better."

St James Theatre owner Steve Bielby did not believe that there was any issue with Heart of the City's register of members as the board had alleged.

"I have physically been in and inspected it multiple times and... they haven't provided any examples or any evidence that there is issues with it... we know exactly how many members there are of the organisation."

It was now time for Heart of the City members to have their say by electing a new board, Bielby said.

Bielby said it was an exciting time for central Auckland, and the area needed Heart of the City to be a strong advocate.

"I think a strong Heart of the City is actually a strong city centre."

Bielby had been pushing for the board to vacate their positions and seek re-election at a special general meeting and said they likely saw the writing on the wall.