Auckland Council

Predecessors

The Auckland Council took over the functions of the Auckland Regional Council and the region's seven city and district councils: Auckland City Council, Manukau City Council, Waitakere City Council, North Shore City Council, Papakura District Council, Rodney District Council and most of Franklin District Council.

The Auckland Regional Council was formed in 1989, replacing the Auckland Regional Authority. One of the mainstays of its work was expanding the parks network, and it brought into the Auckland Council 26 regional parks with more than 40,000 hectares, including many restored natural habitats and sanctuaries developed in co-operation with the Department of Conservation and volunteers.^[2] A variety of often public transport-focused projects like the Northern Busway as well as significant rail and public transport investments were realised through the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, much of it supported by retaining Ports of Auckland in public hands (after the deregulation of the Auckland Harbour Board) to fund the improvements with the dividends.^[2]

Royal Commission

Until 2010, the Auckland Region had seven "City/District" authorities, plus one "Regional" authority. In the late 2000s, New Zealand's central government and parts of Auckland's society felt that this large number of Councils, and the lack of strong regional government (with the Auckland Regional Council only having limited powers) were hindering Auckland's progress, and that a form of stronger regional government, or an amalgamation under one local council, would be beneficial. Others pointed to the fact that a previous integration of the many much smaller Borough Councils did not bring the promised advantages either, and reduced local participation in politics,^[3] with editorialists pointing out that the (supposedly mainly Wellingtonian) proponents of the 'super city' have carefully not made any promises of savings in light of past rises in rates and utilities bills.^[4]

In 2007, the government set up a Royal Commission on Auckland Governance to report on what restructuring should be done.^[5][6] The report was released on 27 March 2009^[7] and the government subsequently announced that a "super city" would be set up to include the full metropolitan area under an Auckland Council with a single mayor and 20–30 local boards, by the time of the local body elections in 2010,^[8][9] though it also changed some key recommendations of the Royal Commission.

Withdrawal from Local Government New Zealand

On 23 March 2023, the Auckland Council voted by a margin of ten to ten to leave Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), the national representative body for local councils in New Zealand. Mayor Brown used his casting vote to break the deadlock during the Council's vote. Brown said that members of the body got drunk regularly during conference meetings and that the Auckland Council could negotiate with the New Zealand Government independently. Brown also said that exiting the LGNZ would save the Auckland Council NZ$640,000 a year, helping to reduce its debt. The Auckland Council's decision to leave LGNZ was criticised as detrimental to Auckland ratepayers and cooperation with other local councils by fellow councillors Richard Hills, Andy Baker, Julie Fairey, and LGNZ President Stuart Crosby.^[10]

Mayor

The mayor of Auckland is the directly elected chair of the governing body of Auckland Council.

Current composition

The following council took office following the October 2025 election:^[12][13]

More information Role, Portrait ...

Role	Portrait	Name	Affiliation		Ward
Mayor		Wayne Brown		Fix Auckland	Elected at-large
Deputy Mayor		Desley Simpson		Fix Auckland	Orākei
Councillor		Andy Baker		Team Franklin	Franklin
Councillor		Josephine Bartley		Labour	Maungakiekie-Tāmaki
Councillor		Bo Burns		Independent	Howick
Councillor		Julie Fairey		City Vision	Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa
Councillor		Alf Filipaina		Labour	Manukau
Councillor		Christine Fletcher		Communities and Residents	Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa
Councillor		Lotu Fuli		Labour	Manukau
Councillor		John Gillon		Putting the North Shore First	North Shore
Councillor		Shane Henderson		Labour	Waitākere
Councillor		Richard Hills		Positive Leadership for the Shore	North Shore
Councillor		Mike Lee		Auckland Independents	Waitematā and Gulf
Councillor		Daniel Newman		Manurewa-Papakura Action Team	Manurewa-Papakura
Councillor		Sarah Paterson-Hamlin		Labour	Whau
Councillor		Greg Sayers		Independent	Rodney
Councillor		Victoria Short		Fix Auckland	Albany
Councillor		Ken Turner		WestWards	Waitākere
Councillor		John Watson		Putting People First	Albany
Councillor		Maurice Williamson		Independent	Howick
Councillor		Matt Winiata		Manurewa-Papakura Action Team	Manurewa-Papakura

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List of members by term

Regional parks

The council owns and manages 28 regional parks around the region.^[40] Most of the parks were inherited from Auckland Regional Council.^[41]

Rates

Auckland Council rates combine the rates of the various amalgamated local councils and the Auckland Regional Council rates. For the 2011–2012 year, ratepayers are being charged the same rate as before the amalgamation, plus a 3.94% increase, with Council noting that they had achieved a much lower rates increase than originally foreseen.^[42] Rates made up 53% of the Council's income in 2011, with the remainder being "grants, subsidies, development and financial contributions, user charges and fees".^[42]

As of 2011, 24% of the Council's money was spent on "Art services and galleries, events, museums, parks, recreation facilities and the zoo", while 22% was spent on "transport management". Further big elements were "Planning and regulation" at 14.5% and "Community services, libraries, emergency management and cemeteries" at 11.5%.^[42]

As of 2016, 38% of rates were spent on "transport", 27% on "parks, community and lifestyle", 16% on "environmental management and regulation", 8% on "Auckland development", 6% on "Economic and cultural development" and 5% on "governance and support".^[43]

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