Heavyweight left and right city mayoral contenders step up

Saturday, 19 April 2025

Hamilton councillors Tim Macindoe and Sarah Thomson are both making Easter Saturday announcements about standing for mayor of the city at this year’s elections.

“Fiscal conservative” Tim Macindoe and centre-left leaning Sarah Thomson have both chosen Easter Saturday to confirm publicly they’ll be Hamilton mayoralty race contenders at this year’s local government elections.

Given the plethora of major issues the city faces and the power of the mayor in shaping plans and budgets - and making key committee appointments - the winner of this year’s race will have a huge role in setting the agenda for Hamilton’s future.

In comments this week, Macindoe and Thomson outlined what they offered and their take on key issues.

Former National MP and first term councillor Tim Macindoe is to run as a “fiscal conservative” candidate for Hamilton’s mayoralty after discussions with like-minded councillor Geoff Taylor about which of them would take a tilt at the top job this year.

Macindoe wants to cut costs, raise revenue

Former National MP and first-term councillor Tim Macindoe is to run for Hamilton mayor as part of moves to hopefully end what he calls the dominance of a “green-left bloc” on the city council.

His decision, announced on Saturday, follows long talks with fellow “fiscal conservative” Geoff Taylor - a former deputy mayor - over who would be the best mayoral candidate out of the two in 2025.

Tim Macindoe says he’s keen to clamp down on council costs and increase its revenue if elected mayor this year.

And, in a bid to ensure they have the numbers around the post-elections council table, they have also been talking to a number of people considering offering themselves as candidates who would support their approach.

In a joint interview, Taylor said Macindoe’s political experience, profile and wide appeal meant he was best to run for mayor.

Macindoe, 64, acknowledged he’d earlier thought Taylor was the most likely mayoral candidate but he now realised he had a lot of personal support, and he’d shown previously he had the ability to attract votes from the centre and even the centre-left of politics.

He wanted to end the dominance of the “green-left” bloc, which had been able to pass the current long term plan last year.

“I’d say that the bloc who’re in the majority at the moment are happy for things to carry on as they are, in the assumption that in time things will come right.

“Whereas I would suggest … particularly given the dramatic increase in our debt and the huge pain that ratepayers are experiencing at the moment that that’s wishful thinking.”

If he was mayor of a similarly divided council next term he planned to work closely with committee chairs on containing costs and increasing revenue.

But, he said, “this city is going to have to continue spending money - I’m not offering a scorched earth-type policy here”.

Councillor Geoff Taylor will at least be a committee chairperson after the election if he is re-elected and Tim Macindoe is mayor - Taylor said his skills had not been well-utilised this term.

As to why he wanted to be mayor at this time, Macindoe said: “We’ve got more pain ahead and I want to manage that period of pain and adjustment to ensure that we do lay the foundations for a much stronger, more prosperous city”.

On double-digit rates rises coming up over the next four years, he said that ideally rises should usually be around consumer price inflation: “We’re miles above that at the moment and we’ll need to be for some time yet”.

But he’d look for “every possible lever” to pull things back.

Besides residential ratepayers’ pain, he said there were some businesses looking to close or leave Hamilton because of high rates.

He’s keen to alleviate that commercial pressure to help sustain some of the booming development in and around Hamilton.

It was also critical to work with developers on addressing wastewater capacity issues acting as a brake on growth. He supported the proposed waters council controlled organisation with Waikato district to help drive efficiencies.

Overall, the council needed to cut costs, eliminate widespread waste and improve its economic performance.

City debt costing “hundreds of thousands of dollars each week in interest … can’t be allowed to keep escalating,” Macindoe said.

Councillor Geoff Taylor said there was “an element of disappointment” that he won’t be running for mayor but he’s firmly behind Macindoe’s candidacy.

He, Taylor and another “fiscal conservative” councillor Ewan Wilson had been developing policies to be implemented if a majority of like-minded councillors are elected.

Macindoe said several such like-minded people will announce their election intentions in coming weeks.

City councillor Sarah Thomson at home in Hamilton.

“We need them around the table in the next three years if we are to have a majority supporting change, and Geoff will mentor those who would like some help.”

However, Macindoe stressed he was not forming a “ticket” and candidates would be responsible for their own campaigns.

Taylor acknowledged there was “an element of disappointment” in coming to the conclusion he wouldn’t run for mayor “but actually I’ve got through that”.

He’d love to be deputy mayor if re-elected. Macindoe said he can’t commit to that at present but would at least make Taylor a committee chair. “He will be in a prominent role.”

Thomson aims for ‘sustainable savings’

As chairperson of the city’s strategic growth and district plan committee, Sarah Thomson has been knee deep in some of the city’s most significant issues this term, such as housing and wastewater infrastructure.

But the legally trained 34-year-old mother of two pre-schoolers, dressed for an interview in a bright pink jacket, also has a sartorial eye for what clothing says about her.

“You will see more pink,” she said when asked about that colour choice during an interview about her candidacy announced on Saturday.

“I think it’s a bright and energetic colour. It helps me stand out.”

It’s an example of attention to detail that also comes across in her kōrero about weightier matters she wants to tackle if elected mayor.

“We need someone who knows what they’re doing, can crack into things straight away … and can also work with people across the political spectrum to get good outcomes for the city. I believe I can do that.”

One of her key focus areas would be getting the council to do core business “really well” to support creation of new jobs and housing, including sorting out “absolutely critical” wastewater capacity issues stifling growth.

Thomson also wants the city to look clean and attractive so people feel “really proud of where they live”.

A third priority was looking after existing things people love about Hamilton, such as river walkways, parks and playgrounds.

On how she defined herself as centre-left leaning, and how this could affect her work as mayor, she said it was important to tackle things issue by issue.

But the idea of being centre-left encapsulated ensuring spending wasn’t cut too much.

Sarah Thomson says she has the skills to bring people together as mayor.

She wanted to make sure “we’re not just cutting services to cut costs” and instead look for “genuine long-term and sustainable savings”.

So she wouldn’t support the likes of cutting library hours, mowing, city maintenance and City Safe, things suggested during the last long term plan process by “colleagues who label themselves as more fiscally conservative”.

Having “a transport system that works” and investment in public transport were important.

Supporting community and volunteer groups was also a priority, Thomson said.

On how as mayor she would manage tensions between supporters of her approach and any other councillor grouping, Thomson said a strength of hers was working with people holding very different views.

“I have confidence that on a lot of issues I would be able to bring people together.”

But she was prepared to stand her ground and put difficult issues to the vote, Thomson said.

She was also a very hands on strategic thinker when it came to solving issues rather than councillors simply relying on staff advice.

“We should be providing strong guidance as elected members and not just having the budget put together by staff for the elected members to then consider.”

On any moves to bring down the double digit rates rises due for the next four years, Thomson said it was critical to stay on track to balance the council’s operating expenditure books within the next few years.

“It is some pain right now but then … we’ll be in a much better position in terms of the finances.”

When it came to wastewater capacity issues, Thomson was keen to further explore developers being able to install “interim solution” holding tanks that downloaded at off-peak times to the main system, while upgrades of the latter are completed.

Creation of a waters council controlled organisation with Waikato district would help enable more investment in such big upgrades and ensure better inter-area co-ordination.

Hamilton had an exciting future with all the developments going on and the council needed to make sure the infrastructure was there to support these and future projects.

“We’re a fast-growing city and that comes with a lot of challenges. We need to work hard to make sure the city stays a good place to live.”