Mayors, not kings

It's the start of the first business week following the local elections, and already the news media are vastly over simplifying things, reporting, as the NZ Herald did this morning, “Mayors pull plug on big projects”. Other news media outlets have reported similarly. Trouble is, that's not the way things work in New Zealand.

A mayor is one vote on a council and without majority support, it doesn't make any difference how much they huff and puff. They are not kings. Still, it makes for some drama:

In Auckland City, rerun Mayor John Banks has pledged that Auckland City won't pay for upgrades to Eden Park for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, saying he woud “leave the funding of the grandstand upgrades inside Eden Park to the cash-rich Government and the rich and powerful Rugby Union.” He has a point there—months old, unfortunately. There's a strong argument that Auckland City ratepayers shouldn't pay for upgrades to Eden Park for what is essentially a national event, but that issue was decided months ago. Now, central government is talking about moving the World Cup Final out of Auckland. Drama will continue.

In North Shore City, surprise Mayor Andrew Williams has declared there will be no civil airport at a soon-to-be ex-airforce base near the city. He may or may not have a majority of the votes on the North Shore City Council (this is unclear), but there are others involved, too, over whom he certainly has no control or influence. Williams became famous—infamous to some—and lost his Council seat in 2004 because he tried to get the North Shore City Council to drop the Christian prayer from the opening of Council meetings. Here, too, there may be some drama.

The results for Auckland and North Shore City show that residents and ratepayers should be in for three colourful years. While the mayors will be in the middle of things, they won't necessarily get their way. And if voters don't like the results, they'll turf out their mayors and councillors in three years time because that, too, is the way things work.