quit the role in late 2020<\/a>, said he was offered a mayoral car but took a car allowance. <\/p>\nDrysdale said the council was focused on keeping costs down. <\/p>\n
![\"Tauranga]()
Tauranga Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale only uses a Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited provided by council for work purposes. Photo \/ Brydie Thompson<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an electric vehicle, it is very cheap to run and overall represents good value for money compared with using my private car and claiming mileage for when on council business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said the vehicle was for work purposes only so the mayor could do his job efficiently and effectively.<\/p>\n
This included driving to the office and returning home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vehicle is not used for any private use. The mayor has a private car that he uses for private use.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said this was considered a more cost-effective approach than claiming mileage for his vehicle for each council-related trip.<\/p>\n
It said council-related travel covered duties associated with the role. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes representing Tauranga at regional and national meetings, meeting with community groups and stakeholders, visiting council facilities and project sites, and attending civic and community events. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese trips are largely within Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty, with some travel further afield as required for official engagements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local Democracy Reporting asked the council how long Drysdale has had the vehicle; did he use it to drive to and from Cambridge when he was living there, and when did he move to P\u0101p\u0101moa? <\/p>\n
In response, the council, in a statement, reiterated that the vehicle was provided and used in accordance with the Remuneration Authority\u2019s allowance, and the mayor\u2019s family moved to P\u0101p\u0101moa at the start of this year.<\/p>\n
The electric vehicle is charged when parked at the council\u2019s offices on Devonport Rd at an EV station that forms part of its electric vehicle charging network.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n
Ayla Yeoman<\/a> is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Remuneration Authority allows councils to provide a mayoral vehicle. It set purchase price limits at $55,000 for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45669,3944,6745,5205,45609,3039,127,4480,75445,1360,75444,10934,111,43,139,69,58885,3111,205905,1227],"class_list":["post-398883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-50k","tag-car","tag-choice","tag-council","tag-defending","tag-defends","tag-despite","tag-drive","tag-drysdale","tag-having","tag-mah","tag-mayor","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opting","tag-out","tag-predecessors","tag-tauranga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398883","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=398883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}