Auckland Council (Māori: Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the territorial authority for the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It serves as the local and regional government as a unitary authority. It has existed since the 2010 amalgamation of the seven territorial authorities and one regional council in the region. It administers the largest population of any local government authority in Oceania.
The governing body consists of a mayor and 20 councillors, elected from 13 wards. There are also 151 members of 21 local boards who make decisions on matters local to their communities.
The council was established by a number of Acts of Parliament, and an Auckland Transition Agency, also created by the central government. Both the means by which the council was established and its structure came under repeated criticism from a broad spectrum during the establishment period.
Contents
History
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. 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.
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, 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.
In 2007, the government set up a Royal Commission on Auckland Governance to report on what restructuring should be done. The report was released on 27 March 2009 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, 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.
Governing body
The governing body of the Auckland Council consists of the mayor and councillors. Decision-making for the governing body's areas of oversight is done by committees, a few of which consist of the whole governing body, and most of which consist of a chairperson appointed by the mayor and a subset of the governing body members.
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:
Chief executive
Doug McKay was announced as the inaugural chief executive officer of the council, being selected ahead of 27 other. He had no direct experience in local government, but had strong ties to Auckland; he had 30 years of experience as a corporate executive. He was to receive a salary of $675,000 and an incentive bonus of $67,500.
Stephen Town became chief executive on 15 January 2014. In early February 2020, Town announced he would not see out his term until December 2020, moving to the New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology in early July.
Council-controlled organisations
Auckland Council has several council-controlled organisations (CCOs). These include any organisation of which the Council appoints at least 50% of its board members. CCOs that are responsible for a significant service or activity, or those who manage assets worth more than $10 million are described as substantive.
Independent Māori Statutory Board
In mid-June 2026, the populist New Zealand First party announced it would campaign during the 2026 New Zealand general election on disestablishing the Independent Māori Statutory Board as part of its campaign against co-governance.
Legislation
The council was set up by three pieces of legislation, the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009, the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 and the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010.
Assets
The Council owns approximately $34 billion of assets (2010), including over 100,000 hectares of open space, parks and reserves, as well as the large transport assets administered by the Auckland Transport CCO (see that article for more detail).
Auckland Council Investments Limited (ACIL), the CCO responsible for non-transport investment assets, manages Council investments worth $2.54 billion, including a 22.4% stake in Auckland Airport worth $1.13 billion, as well as a 100% share of Ports of Auckland Limited worth $1.08 billion, and Auckland Film Studios, worth $8 million (values at May 2014).
Regional parks
The council owns and manages 28 regional parks around the region. Most of the parks were inherited from Auckland Regional Council.
Finances
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. 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".
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%.
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".
Elections
The initial Council elections in October 2010 returned a mostly centre-left council, with Len Brown as mayor. Brown was re-elected in October 2013, again with a largely supportive council. The 2016 mayoral election was won by Labour MP Phil Goff, who had a landslide victory over his nearest rivals, Victoria Crone and future Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick. Goff won re-election in the 2019 mayoral election and chose not to run in the 2022 mayoral election, which was won by Wayne Brown. In the 2025 mayoral election, Brown was re-elected with an absolute majority.
In September 2026, the council voted to switch from postal voting to booth voting for the 2028 elections in response to allegations of vote rigging and ballot theft during the 2025 elections for the Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Manurewa local boards.
Local boards
Local boards are sub-regional local government entities that provide governance at the local level in the Auckland Region. Their responsibilities include managing events and community facilities such as libraries and local parks. They have the power to develop local by-laws or propose local targeted rates which they put forward to the Governing Body to adopt.