Who are the commissioners?

Why do we not have a Mayor & Councillors in Tauranga?

Crown Commission:

On 9 February 2021, a Crown Commission appointed by the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta took over all of the council’s governance responsibilities, initially for a term until October 2022. The minister sacked the mayor and councillors and since then there has been no local democracy in Tauranga.

On 11 March 2022, the Minister of Local Government announced that Tauranga City Council would continue to have a crown appointed commission until July 2024. . This action and the extension of the term of the commissioners is legally suspect but no one has enough money to challenge the government in court.

The commissioners act as judge and jury, there is only token public consultation and they are ramming through all types of expensive projects ( new civic centre , new stadiums, new museums, gifting central city land to iwi) and neglecting roads, cycle ways, new bridges and real infrastructure. This will put Tauranga into large debt for many years and and a cycle of ever increasing rates to pay to service the loans.

The commisisoners are not taking any fiscal responsibility and are enabling all the expensive schemes of council staff. They believe they are building infrastructure. In fact it is an uncoordinated desperate spend.