New Wellington Mayor Andrew Little vows to protect ratepayers from ballooning costs

12:51 pm on 13 October 2025
Former Health Minister Andrew Little

Former Labour leader Andrew Little won the mayoral seat by a landslide. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Wellington's new Mayor says something has "gone seriously wrong" with council management processes that have allowed project costs to spiral out of control.

Former Labour leader Andrew Little won the mayoral seat by a landslide - securing more than 25,000 more votes than his nearest competitor.

With 85 percent of the vote in, Little received 34,240 votes, a comfortable lead over runner-up Karl Tiefenbacher, who got 8807, and third-placed Ray Chung, who received 6838 votes.

For the last three years, the council had been dogged by blown out project costs, high rates rises and fractious infighting.

Little said he would not freeze current initiatives - such as the Town Hall refurbishment - but projects needed to be reviewed and managed differently to protect ratepayers from ballooning costs.

In October 2023, councillors voted to continue work on the Town Hall despite projected costs reaching up to $329 million in the years following it's closure in 2013 due to earthquake concerns.

"It's making sure that the review processes - that we've got during the course of a project - are such that if we get to the point where you say 'it's a choice between writing off $50m spent or running the risk of another $200m' actually we're better off to write off the $50m and either start again or do something different" Little said.

"We shouldn't be on a treadmill that takes us from [an] original commitment of $60- to 70m to this $330m. We've got to find a different way to manage projects that avoids that risk."

But Little said, on the flip side, promising zero rates rises was not "practical or achievable".

"Part of the driver of the level of the increase in rates is actually just historical underspending in infrastructure. Generational underspending in infrastructure has caught up with folks. That said, if you're facing rate rises of 30 percent over two years - which is what we have in Wellington - that does get pretty tough for most households so council does have a responsibility to exercise control," Little said.

In August, the government announced a model to cap council rates would be put before Cabinet before Christmas.

While last month a RNZ-Reid Research poll showed 75 percent of respondents supported a government cap on the amount councils could increase rates each year.

Little said he would advocate against any central government imposition of a cap on rates.

"I think it undermines accountability of councillors to residents and ratepayers. The risk you run is that - if the government sets a cap at whatever percentage - every council says 'we definitely need that so we'll just work to the cap' as opposed to what is prudential financial management for the council? What is a sensible level of rates rise given the obligations that we've got? What is the incentive for us to make decisions about what the priorities are? Taking some things off the wish list and making good decisions. A rates cap doesn't allow that to happen," Little said.

Little said one of his first priorities was to ensure good working relationships within the council.

He said he'd been in touch which each councillor over the weekend and was determined to make sure the culture around the table was respectful.

"The whole council has to work together. Every councillor has to feel they've got a stake in it, they've got a role to play and they're respected in doing that role," Little said.

"I think it's important for council and councillors to model the right behaviour for the city, for the organisation actually. Making sure the council organisation is doing what Wellingtonians demand."

New Lower Hutt mayor says balance key to good leadership

The new Mayor of Lower Hutt, Fauono Ken Laban, said good leadership was crucial to set an example for future generations while striking a balance between business prosperity and social cohesion about the community.

The well known broadcaster and rugby league identity said all people in positions of leadership should be working to improve the lives of the people who need it the most.

"There's probably 90 percent off us who have no use to engage - at any stage - with the local council. But, on the other hand, there's that percentage in the commercial world and then there's that vulnerable group from a social perspective that need to be supported as well. So, just finding that balance is the key to good leadership," Laben said.

Laben said, while it was never the focus of his campaign, becoming the country's first Pasifika mayor was a "moving" experience.

"From a New Zealand perspective, we live in an area where there's a lot of intense debate around diversity. So, it's a nod for diversity, inclusion and equity as well," Laben said.

Upper Hutt mayor says it will take time to build trust

The new Mayor of Upper Hutt, Peri Zee, said it will take "a bit of time" to rebuild trust after a crisis of the public's confidence in the council over recent years.

Zee's campaign focussed on better transport and a vibrant new city centre - beating out former mayor, Wayne Guppy who survived eight terms in the hot seat.

"We've door knocked hundreds of doors in Upper Hutt and people are saying they want more transparency. They want accountability when things go wrong. They want better communication. They want better engagement. All of those things that do take a bit of time to build those things back up," Zee said.

Zee announced her campaign in June last year and said she knew it would be "a tough ask" to win over Guppy.

"For the people who just have a campaign in the last month or six weeks they don't have the ability to hear what's happening on the ground and change their campaign to make sure they're responding to what people want," Zee said.

"Because - at the end of the day - that's what's politics is. You're trying to hear on the ground what's happening and put that into a bigger picture of what needs to be done across the whole city."

Zee said revitalising the city centre was her number one priority.

"Our city centre is not a place where you would take your family to spend time and that's a real shame. We absolutely need to invest some money and time over a reasonable period of time but we do need to get started with something.

"We're going to make sure that - by the next long term plan - we have a couple of options and we can show people exactly what it is and bring people along the journey so they're involved," Zee said.

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