The Auckland Mayor's been forced to make an 11th hour peace offering after facing stiff resistance to his plan to sell the council's stake in Auckland Airport.
The council has been locked in debate as it chews over its crucial and contentious annual budget - and will return in the morning to continue.
Wayne Brown promised he'd ditch cuts to services if councillors backed his plan to sell the 18 percent of airport shares the council owns.
But as he sounded them out one by one, it became clear he didn't have the numbers to pass it. So then came the watered down proposal - selling just 8 percent of shares, increasing rates 7.7 percent on average, bringing back some cuts to local boards, and tasking the CEO to find some more.
Now he hopes that will be enough to get councillors on side. Finn Blackwell reports.
