Kia Ora,

It’s just over a year since the local body elections, and it’s been an honour to serve as Mayor alongside your Councillors. We all come to the table with different backgrounds and experiences, but with a shared commitment to making a positive difference for the Tararua District.

One of the real privileges of this role is getting out across our district, meeting people, and seeing first-hand what they do for their communities. From people quietly giving their time to community organisations achieving great things with limited resources, there is an enormous amount happening across Tararua that deserves recognition.

To everyone who volunteers, supports others, or simply gets stuck in to make their community better, thank you. We should never forget just how much work is done by good people who care about making the Tararua District a great place to live.

There’s certainly been plenty to keep us busy over the past year. We’ve recruited our new Chief Executive, Corin Haines, responded to five major weather events, including a state of emergency, and welcomed international visitors, including the Polish Deputy Prime Minister. At the same time, we’ve been working through our priorities and setting a clear direction for the future.

A big part of that direction is building a can-do culture, one that looks for solutions, challenges the way things have always been done and removes barriers rather than creating them. It means being practical, responsive, and open to innovation, while staying focused on what we can achieve for our communities.

Affordability has also been a key focus. Our first Annual Budget reduced the projected average rates increase from 11.84% to 4.83%. That required some hard decisions and a willingness to challenge how we do things. We need to maintain that discipline as we work through the bigger decisions ahead.

At the same time, there has been a considerable amount of change coming from central government, including local government reform, Resource Management Act changes and proposed rates capping. Reform can bring opportunities, but the uncertainty and workload that come with it can also make it harder to plan ahead. We’ll keep pushing for changes that improve local government while protecting the local voice and decision-making of our communities.

Much of Council’s work happens behind the scenes. It might be working alongside community groups, advocating to Ministers and MPs, or working through budgets and projects to get the best outcomes we can for our district. It isn’t always visible, but it matters.

I want to thank my fellow Councillors for their commitment and hard work over the past year, and our Council staff who work every day to deliver services, support our communities, and turn the direction set by elected members into action.

We’ve made a good start, but there is plenty more to do. I’m proud of what our communities achieve, optimistic about what lies ahead, and looking forward to continuing the work together over the next two years.

Scott Gilmore - Mayor.