{"id":251699,"date":"2026-01-25T23:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T23:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251699\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T23:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T23:44:07","slug":"mayor-tania-tapsell-tops-spending-as-rotorua-councillors-election-costs-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251699\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Tania Tapsell tops spending as Rotorua councillors election costs revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Smaller donations of $2000 were received from electricity company Unison, the Prince\u2019s Gate Hotel and a personal donor, Ansheng Cheng.<\/p>\n

Most of Tapsell\u2019s spending went on signage and advertising, along with equipment, photography, a website domain, venues and events. <\/p>\n

While the highest spend of any candidate in last year\u2019s election, it was well below the $24,279 she spent in her successful 2022 mayoral campaign.<\/p>\n

Tapsell said she was \u201cvery humbled\u201d by the support for her re-election. <\/p>\n

While previous councillor campaigns were largely self-funded, she said stepping up to mayoral runs required \u201cbigger campaigns\u201d and donations were \u201cinvaluable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to each individual candidate how seriously they wish to take it,\u201d Tapsell said when asked whether her superior funding contributed to her success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in my nature to do the best job I possibly can when I commit to and care about things, and we can never take anything for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the excess $10,800 funding would be put aside for any future campaigns, with the support of her donors.<\/p>\n

As for potential conflicts of interest, Tapsell said none of the donors had current business interests with the council, and she followed the strict rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always clear with any large donors that there are no strings attached,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important my community knows I\u2019m here to act in their best interest, and that\u2019s what I will always do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast to Tapsell\u2019s spend, several successful candidates spent little to nothing at all. <\/p>\n

\" New Zealand\u2019s longest-serving councillor, Trevor Maxwell was one of three successful candidates who spent nothing on their campaign. Photo \/ Alan Gibson<\/p>\n

Three councillors, deputy mayor Sandra Kai Fong, Gregg Brown and Trevor Maxwell, reported no campaign spending and received no donations, relying instead on name recognition to secure re-election.<\/p>\n

Two unsuccessful mayoral challengers, who retained their council seats, reported higher costs. <\/p>\n

Robert Lee spent $7166 on signage, advertising, photography, a web domain and equipment, while Don Paterson spent $4272 on advertising, signage and printing. Both campaigns were self-funded.<\/p>\n

First-term councillor Ben Sandford spent $3836 without receiving any donations. <\/p>\n

Fisher Wang spent $1886 on signage and flyers, while Te Rika Temara-Benfell spent $1462 to win a M\u0101ori ward seat, also without donations.<\/p>\n

Rural ward councillor Karen Barker, who ran unopposed, spent $330 on meet-and-greet events in Horohoro and Reporoa.<\/p>\n

\"DespiteDespite the second-highest spend, former councillor Conan O’Brien failed to win re-election. Photo \/ Laura Smith<\/p>\n

Former councillor Conan O\u2019Brien recorded the second-highest campaign spend overall, at $9188, but was not elected. <\/p>\n

Under the Local Electoral Act 2001, candidates have 55 days from the day after election day to file a donations and expenses declaration, even if no money was raised or spent. <\/p>\n

Failure to do so can result in a fine of up to $1000, with an additional penalty of up to $400 per day if the candidate is elected.<\/p>\n

Seven candidates submitted their returns after the December 10 deadline, including returning M\u0101ori ward councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, who confirmed she spent $300 on signage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely forgot,\u201d she said. Following the prompt from Local Democracy Reporting, Raukawa-Tait confirmed she hand-delivered the form.<\/p>\n

\"RotoruaRotorua councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait forgot to return her form in time. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Mayoral candidate Haehaetu Barrett and departing M\u0101ori ward councillor Rawiri Waru had now also filed their returns, while Rotorua Lakes Community Board member Peter MacMillan was unwell and expected to submit his late, according to Rotorua election officer Warwick Lampp.<\/p>\n

Returns from general ward candidates Jared Adams, Neville Raethel and Jason Monahan remain outstanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be chasing up the rest next week,\u201d Lampp said. <\/p>\n

The trio could find themselves in trouble as Lampp confirmed this would be a final reminder before referral to the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the job of the police to follow them up and take further action if they see fit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But this appeared unlikely as Lampp confirmed he had \u201cnever seen\u201d a prosecution for the offence.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Lakes Council 2025 election campaign spend<\/p>\n

Mayor Tania Tapsell – $15,217Robert Lee – $7166Don Paterson – $4272Ben Sandford – $3836Fisher Wang – $1886Te Rika Temara-Benfell – $1462Karen Barker – $330Merepeka Raukawa-Tait – $300 (pending) Sandra Kai Fong – $0Gregg Brown – $0Trevor Maxwell – $0<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smaller donations of $2000 were received from electricity company Unison, the Prince\u2019s Gate Hotel and a personal donor,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,802,26519,5903,10934,300,3025,111,43,139,69,2081,56522,13382,12860,1327,8262,12633,44160,56661,2726],"class_list":["post-251699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-costs","tag-councillors","tag-election","tag-mayor","tag-money","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-raised","tag-reelected","tag-returning","tag-revealed","tag-rotorua","tag-spending","tag-spent","tag-tania","tag-tapsell","tag-tops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}