Media Release: Council's initial representation review proposal

24 April 2024

Hauraki District Council voted today to reduce by one the number of Councillors per Ward for the 2025 Local Government elections while standing by the decision to add two Māori Ward Councillors, bringing the total number of Councillors to 12 plus the Mayor for 2025.

Courage and common-sense

“Today our Councillors showed courage and common-sense to come to a conclusion for the best way forward for our communities”, said Hauraki District Council Mayor, Toby Adams.

“As has been demonstrated with our Love This Place (Long Term Plan 2024-2034), Placemaking and Hauraki Plains Adaptation Plan community meetings, our Councillors work across the whole district, not just in their Ward. It’s the Hauraki way.

For this reason we feel comfortable reducing the current number of Councillors per ward by one for 2025, plus adding one Māori Ward with two Councillors, and still have good representation for the Wards around the Council table”, he said.

The next step is for Council to take this option to the community for feedback as it sits outside the guidelines for population vs councillor ratio.

Getting the job done

“Here’s where being bold comes in”, said Mayor Toby.

“With the support of the community, we can achieve something quite unique. We’ve seen that 13 elected members can get the job done, we don’t think we need more Councillors, so today’s decision means more inclusivity for the same effectiveness. We think that’s a win-win for Council and the community.”

Boundary adjustment proposed

To achieve the head of population to councillor ratio for the option proposed by Council, there would need to be a very minor tweak to the Plains and Paeroa Ward boundaries to meet the +-10% threshold. The population for the Plains currently sits at 1% over the threshold for the proposed option.

Hauraki District currently has, (based on population), four Councillors each for Paeroa and Plains Ward, and five for Waihī Ward, for a total of 13 Councillors plus the Mayor.

This new option proposes three Councillors each for Paeroa and Plains; four Councillors for Waihī and 2 Māori Ward Councillors for a total of 12 Councillors plus the Mayor.

Councils are required to review their representation arrangements every six years. Hauraki District Council will take this proposed option to the community for their feedback during May.

“We think it makes sense to go with these numbers. We’re proposing to slightly amend the Paeroa/Plains border to meet the population to councillor ratio and we’re keen to hear what our communities think about this option when we go out for consultation in May”, said Mayor Toby.