Tauranga's "loss of democracy" will help increase the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's election costs by more than $400,000.

The regional council, Toi Moana, will be the only local authority holding an election in Tauranga come election day on October 8.

The estimated cost to the regional council for the Tauranga and Mauao constituency elections is $435,000 - up from $20,000 in 2019 more than half of the total projected cost of $750,000 for all seven wards.

Previously local election costs were split between Toi Moana, the district health board and the local authority.

In March, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced the four commissioners currently in charge of Tauranga City's governance would remain until July 2024, cancelling Tauranga's election.

District health board elections will also no longer take place with the restructure of the health system. The country's 20 DHBs will be replaced by the single entity Health NZ and a Māori Health Authority from July 1.

The extra cost to Toi Moana was raised by Tauranga constituency councillor Stuart Crosby at a meeting yesterday.

Councillor Stuart Crosby. Photo: Supplied.

'In the Tauranga constituency, there is no election for Tauranga city council,” said Crosby.

'There is no election now as I understand for the DHB, which is wonderful, but that must have a cost implication.”

Governance manager Yvonne Tatton said the 'biggest impact” on election cost is the Tauranga portion but not having DHB elections had a 'major impact across the region”.

Tatton said $435,000 for the Tauranga and Mauao constituencies is 'quite a considerable cost [compared] to previous elections”.

'We are bearing all the cost of the election in those constituencies,” she said.

Tauranga is one of the four general regional council wards and Mauao is one of the three Māori wards.

The cost to Toi Moana for the 2019 election was $179,982, four times less than the predicted cost of the upcoming election.

Tatton said the fee was across four constituencies as costs were shared among the regional council, the relevant council and the DHBs.

'In 2019 elections were not held in three constituencies as the number of candidates were the same as the number of vacancies,” she said.

These were Tauranga, Eastern Bay of Plenty and Ōkurei, the Rotorua Māori Constituency.

According to data previously provided to Local Democracy Reporting by Tauranga City Council the regional council's share of the 2019 election cost was around $20,000.

Councillor Paula Thompson. Photo: Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

During the meeting, Tauranga councillor Paula Thompson queried the cost in comparison to rates and where it was budgeted.

'We're talking an over one per cent general rating requirement for the fact that we've lost democracy in Tauranga, is that correct?” she asked.

Tatton replied: 'From a financial point of view, yes”.

Deputy chairperson Jane Nees said she wanted people to clearly see the financial implications of the government's decisions.

'I think the rate payers need to understand what the cost is that is being borne by the regional council for those decisions,” she said.

Council chief executive Fiona McTavish said council would be seeking guidance from the councillors in terms of the additional costs through an annual plan workshop before deliberations in May.

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