Council table changes for inclusion of Māori Wards

Hauraki District Council is wanting to reduce the number of its elected members by one per ward for the next local government elections, while adding two Māori ward councillors to the table.
The decision comes after council made the “historic” decision to include Māori Wards for the 2025 and 2028 triennial elections back in October, 2023.
At the time, Mayor Toby Adams said the change was “a step in the right direction”.
“These are brave decisions, because there will be people who feel like it’s a wrong decision, but they are not always armed with the right information,” he said.
The proposed change will remove one elected member from each of the council’s three wards, bringing the Waihī ward down to four; and Paeroa and the Plains down to three.
The two Māori ward councillors – which will make up one additional ward – will bring the total number of councillors to 12, plus the mayor, for 2025.
Mayor Adams said the council’s representation review decision, made at its April 24 meeting, showed “courage and common-sense”.
The next step, however, was for council to take its preferred ward make-up to the community for feedback, as it sat outside the guidelines for “population vs councillor ratio”.
“Here’s where being bold comes in,” he said.
“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 [the] decision means more inclusivity for the same effectiveness. We think that’s a win-win for council and the community.”
To achieve the “population to councillor ratio” for council’s proposed option, there would need to be a tweak to the Plains and Paeroa ward boundaries.
“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,” Mayor Adams said.
According to a report presented at the council meeting in April, 3210 of the Hauraki’s 22,350 ratepayers were on the Māori roll.
Staff also noted that the change, if it went ahead, would not increase forecasted rates or change the total remuneration pool for its councillors.
Councils are required to review their representation arrangements every six years, and Hauraki District Council will take its proposed option to the community for their feedback this month.