Philip Jacobs of Whakatāne, an accountant, restaurateur and IT professional, today announces his intention to run for the position of Mayor at the Whakatāne District Council during the October 2025 Local Government elections. In deciding to run for mayor Philip is concerned about Whakatāne’s very high levels of rates, council’s failure to embrace Government calls to focus on the basics, its dramatic plunge into a 2025 $14 million operating deficit, unprecedented burgeoning long-term debt and council’s continuing failure to listen to its community.

In deciding to run for mayor, Philip has concluded that none of the current mayor and councillors has the financial and business management skills required to rescue the council organisation from itself and to impose the financial restraint needed by ratepayers struggling with very high rates and saddled by $160 million plus of burgeoning council debt.

In preparing for the October council elections, Philip has attended almost all Whakatāne District Council public meetings over the last year, has recognised the obvious and urgent need for reform and is already well prepared, (with a long list of change initiatives,) to take up the role of Whakatāne’s mayor.

Philip will of course work with the district’s councillors in all of his planned change initiatives. Philip will lead Whakatāne’s councillors using at least monthly caucus meetings (council staff excluded) to map out priorities, review council work-in-progress, consider community feedback, etc. Under Philip’s leadership, councillor caucus meetings will directly control the “what” and “why” of all council activities, leaving council staff, from the chief executive officer down, to focus on the “how” under the tight governance control of their mayor and councillors.

Philip’s election campaign will be centred around two core issues. First (the cause of council’s problems) is a dysfunctional council organisation not connected to its community, running its own agenda, spending like a teenager with dad’s credit card and in desperate need of restructuring followed by an organisational development program to drive improved organisational performance.

And second (the consequence of council’s organisational issues), Philip intends to overhaul council’s woeful financial reporting (that confuses and misinforms council’s mayor and councillors) and its accounting policies and operations to eliminate wasteful spending. Starting with a redesign of council’s internal financial management reporting, Philip will then review councils accounting policies and controls to put ratepayers (and restraint) at the centre of all spending decisions.

Philip’s key election promise is a zero percentage rates rise and a balanced budget for the 2026-27 financial year (vis-à-vis the 9.3% planned in year three of the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan). From October 12th Philip will exercise his mayoral power under section 41A(2) of the Local Government Act to lead the development of the 2026-27 annual plan, its zero percentage rates rise, elimination of council’s operating deficit and the necessary supporting spending cuts.

Following the 2026-27 Annual Plan comes the 2027-37 Long-Term Plan - again under mayoral leadership. As mayor, Philip will lead a zero-based budgeting initiative to force council spending back to the real community needs that ratepayers are willing to pay for based on substantial community interaction. The 2027-37 Long-Term Plan development, in conjunction with council’s organisational reset, should deliver actual rates reductions, operating surpluses to pay down council debt and adjustment of the Uniform Annual General Charge.

Philip will not also be running for a councillor position at the Whakatāne District Council during the October council elections. Philip seeks a district wide mayoral mandate to fix council’s dysfunctional organisational and precarious financial positions – he has no want of being on council without a mandate to address council’s obvious and urgent needs for reform.

For Philip, on behalf of struggling ratepayers, it is a case of enough-is-enough. Philip will go into this year’s Local Government election using the theme “Whakatāne, you deserve better”. Philip’s election campaign has started today and will surface across multiple media platforms in coming weeks.

FYI - Philip has resigned his membership of the Whakatāne Action Group (WAG) to launch his mayoral campaign as an independent candidate. Philip expects to be held to account by WAG and the community during the election campaign and beyond as the Whakatāne District’s new mayor.

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Philip Jacobs

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