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Limited powers
12 August 2025
John Burke, Paremata — Former Porirua Mayor (15 years) on limits of mayoral power
Call me a cynic if you like. I won’t be offended. But I read in The Post that a mayoral candidate offers to cut $40 million of council spending in her first year if elected mayor. Now this appears to be a huge saving, and I don’t know whether it is feasible, I suspect it is not. But having spent 48 years in public office and 15 years as a mayor, I do know that it takes a great deal more than having one individual person elected to the city council to achieve this kind of outcome.
Mayors have one vote only and therefore need to persuade at least 50% of their city councillors to support any of their policies they put forward. Therefore, any policy offered by a mayoral candidate that looks good to electors, but has no great chance of being implemented, can only be regarded as populist and should not be taken seriously.
John Burke, Paremata