By Todd Niall of 
According to a response from the mayor's office, Wayne Brown hadn't known the rules. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has had to repay $1589 to Auckland Council after flying business class on a trip to Australia, for which only economy class fares could be claimed.
Brown's office paid $2616 for the mayor's October flights to Melbourne, Brisbane and back to Auckland, while the chief executive and a mayoral staffer flew a similar itinerary for less than $1000.
An Auckland Council policy - introduced with a flurry of media coverage in 2018 - limits ratepayer-funded business class travel to continuous flights of more than six hours, where business follows within 24 hours.
According to a response from the mayor's office, Brown hadn't known the rules.
"Once the Mayor was made aware of the council policy, he planned to pay the difference between his trip and his colleagues who flew at the same time as him in economy," said Brown's office in a statement to Stuff.
Brown flew to Melbourne - which was unknown to most councillors at the time - to visit officials and politicians over the state's privatisation of the city's port operation.
This is a concept Brown has since included in his proposed 10-year budget, which is due to be debated next year.
The mayor then flew to Brisbane to join other council delegates at a local government conference.
Stuff posed six questions to the mayor's office about the use of business class travel. None were directly answered.
Instead, a single statement was provided in response.
Brown's $2616 trans-Tasman trip was first highlighted in a Stuff story in November, but his office wouldn't say when it became aware of the policy and when the process of refunding the money began.
A business case prepared for the trip correctly noted that Brown was paying the full cost of fares for his wife who accompanied him, but made no reference to his business class premium.
Brown's office didn't say how much was being refunded, but separately, council told Stuff the total reimbursement was $4205, meaning the ratepayer was picking up only $1027 for the three legs.
Previously, council said its chief executive Phil Wilson flew economy class to the Brisbane conference at a cost of $980, while Brown's staffer paid a similar fare.
The amount the mayor is refunding for his own upgrade is equivalent to around half a year's rates for an average value home in Auckland.
This story was first published by Stuff.
