Updated 12:02pm: A sigh of relief from one Auckland councillor, as the mayor's plans to fast-track the City Rail Link are brought to a halt.

Len Brown's been forced to backtrack on plans to get work for the rail link started in 2016, after the Auditor General refused to sign off on the council's draft 10-year-budget.

Councillor Cameron Brewer says the mayor's political desperation has blinded him to how unrealistic it is to promise money which doesn't exist.

He says the Mayor is desperate to keep pushing the project through, as it's all he has left.

Cameron Brewer says the Council needs the Government onboard, and sustainable funding in place before building railways.