City decision-makers look after an annual budget of about $800 million and influence the daily lives of 185,000 Hamiltonians.

Leading the country’s fourth largest city is a big job and, come October, you get a say on who Hamilton’s new mayor and next crop of councillors will be.

But what exactly does Hamilton City Council do?

The short answer is: a lot.

Even before you step outside your front door, there is a good chance you’ve used a service delivered by Council.

Poured a glass of water from your tap? Flushed your toilet? Had a shower to get ready for the day ahead? Then you’ve used a Council service.

In fact, so many aspects of our daily lives are directly impacted by Council. From parking to playgrounds, pipes to pools – Hamilton City Council is busy delivering services to keep our community thriving.

We maintain nearly 700km of roads and more than 1900km of footpaths – that’s the equivalent of travelling from Cape Reinga to Gore (1983km).

We collect your rubbish and recycling and turn 3 million kg of food scraps into compost annually.

We lay the pipes and look after the pumps that deliver about 22 billion litres of safe drinking water each year to Hamilton taps while processing about 1000 litres per second of wastewater at our Pukete Wastewater Treatment Plant.

We provide Hamilton Kirikiriroa with seven libraries, two aquatic centres, 145 parks, 85 playgrounds, and 63 sports areas.

Add to that, Council also manages our world-class Hamilton Gardens, zoo, museum, two stadiums and an events centre.

Council is also there to help when you need to register your dog, clean up a tagged fence, build a house or stage an event.

So whether you’re a ratepayer or a renter, a student, a working parent or a retiree, we are all impacted in some way by the work of Council and we want you to take action.

The first step in having your voice heard this local election is enrolling to vote or checking your enrolment details are correct – it takes less than five minutes to do.

Everyone on the electoral roll was sent an enrolment update pack in the mail during the first two weeks of April 2025. If your pack didn’t arrive, it means you’re not enrolled to vote or your details are not up to date. Check and update your details online at vote.nz

Take action, Hamilton and enrol to vote. The future depends on you.

© Scoop Media