The mayors of four of the five biggest cities have been re-elected to lead their communities for another three years but several councils have seen major shake-ups.
In local government elections on Saturday, voters in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton re-elected their mayors, while in Christchurch, former Labour Party MP Lianne Dalziel won with a big majority.
Ms Dalziel will lead a Christchurch City Council packed with newcomers, with only four of the 13 councillors part of the previous council.
One of the nine new councillors, Ali Jones, said public anger over the role of former chief executive Tony Marryatt had contributed to the result. Just one of the councillors who supported a $68,000 pay rise for Mr Marryatt last year was been returned.
Ms Dalziel's Labour-aligned People's Choice ticket has picked up a seat in all but one of the city's wards but Ms Dalziel said forging a partnership with the National-led Government would be her first priority.
In Wellington, where Celia Wade-Brown was returned for a second term as mayor, nearly half of the councillors have been replaced.
Six new councillors have been elected, including mayoral candidate Nicola Young, who won a place on council through the Lambton ward, and photographer Simon Woolf. Two long-standing councillors, Bryan Pepperell and Leonie Gill, were ousted by newcomers David Lee and Sarah Free.
Second-term Auckland mayor Len Brown, meanwhile, will lead a council with six new faces but no apparent change in political direction. Three sitting Auckland councillors, Ann Hartley, Richard Northey and Noelene Raffils, have been ousted and other new councillors replace those retiring.
Dunedin
Returning Dunedin mayor Dave Cull will be working with seven new representatives on the city's 14-member council, including ex-ACT MP Hillary Calvert and former Labour Minister David Benson-Pope.
Ms Calvert, who failed to unseat Mr Cull but was strongly backed as a councillor, says Dunedin's voters were clearly not happy with the financial direction of the previous council.
"They very much want some accountability, I think that was a strong message - they're concerned about the finances."
The mayor's first term had him bogged down in financial issues like the city's debt burden, struggling stadium and dividend companies, which he now calls landmines on the road.
Mr Cull says he wants the council to be much more focused on the city's development stategies during his second term.
'Signal for change'
Stuart Crosby remains as mayor of Tauranga, but of 10 councillors, only three of his previous team remain, a result he says is a strong signal about the community's desire for change.
New Plymouth's new mayor is two-term councillor Andrew Judd who campaigned on cutting debt and keeping down spending. The council he will head has eight new members, several of whom campaigned on a slogan of change and reducing rates.
Mr Judd says his biggest priority is to fix spending and finances, including the city's poorly performing investment fund, which owns dairy farms in Tasmania.
