Mayor of Carterton

Mayor of Carterton
Common seal of the Carterton District Council
Incumbent Steve Cretney [1] since  2025
Style	His/Her Worship
Term length	Three years
Inaugural holder	Richard Fairbrother
Formation	1887
Deputy	Grace Ayling
Salary	$100,365 [2]
Website	Official website

The mayor of Carterton is the mayor of the Carterton District, which is administered by Carterton District Council, and earlier the office oversaw the Carterton Borough from 1887 until 1989, when Carterton Borough and Wairarapa South County were amalgamated to form Carterton District.

The current mayor of Carterton is Steve Cretney who was elected in 2025. ^[1]

Georgina Beyer, New Zealand's first transgender mayor, held the office from 1995 to 1999.

List of mayors

	Name	Portrait	Term
Mayor of Carterton Borough
1	Richard Fairbrother		1887–1891
2	Alfred Booth		1891–1892
3	George Deller		1892–1901
4	James Baillie		1901–1904
5	George Augustus Fairbrother		1904–1905
6	James Brown		1905–1907
7	Willie Moore		1907–1909
8	Adam Armstrong		1909–1910
9	J. A. Dudson		1910–1911
10	Frank Feist		1911–1914
11	M. D. Hornsby		1914–1915
12	J. T. Marryat Hornsby		1916–1917
13	Gordon Hughan		1917–1919
14	William Howard Booth		1919–1923
15	William Fisher		1923–1936
16	D. L. Taverner		1936–1947
17	Ron Wakelin		1947–1971
18	W. P. Chisholm		1971–1984
19	Barry Keys		1984–1989
Mayor of Carterton District
19	Barry Keys		1989–1995
20	Georgina Beyer [3]		1995–2000
–	Brian Cameron (acting)		2000
21	Martin Tankersley		2000–2004
22	Gary McPhee [4] [5]		2004–2010
23	Ron Mark [6]		2010–2014
–	John Booth (acting) [a]		2014
24	John Booth [8]		2014–2019
25	Greg Lang		2019–2022
(23)	Ron Mark [9]		2022–2025
26	Steve Cretney [1]		2025–present

List of deputy mayors

	Name	Term	Mayor
Deputy Mayor of Carterton Borough
	Herbert Mortenson	fl. 1944 [10]	Taverner
	Unknown	c. 1944–1989	–
Deputy Mayor of Carterton District
	Unknown	1989–?	–
	Richard Booth	?–2004 [11]	Tankersley
	Bill Knowles	2004–2007 [12]	McPhee
	Ruth Carter	2007–2010 [13] [14]
	Elaine Brazendale	2010–2013 [15]	Mark
	John Booth	2013–2014 [16]
Position vacant (September–October 2014) [17] [a]			Booth
	Elaine Brazendale	2014–2016 [18]
	Russell Keys	2016–2019 [19]
	Rebecca Vergunst	2019–2022 [20]	Lang
	Dale Williams	2022–2024 [21] [22]	Mark
	Steve Cretney	2024–2025 [23]
	Grace Ayling	2025–present [24]	Cretney

Footnotes

1. Ron Mark stepped down as mayor of Carterton upon his election as a member of the New Zealand Parliament in the 2014 general election. This resulted in deputy mayor John Booth's appointment as acting mayor, with the deputy mayor position becoming vacant during this time. ^[7]

References

1. "2025 Triennial Elections Declaration of Result" (PDF). ElectionNZ. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
2. Edmunds, Susan (13 June 2024). "How much your local council gets paid". RNZ. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
3. "Carmen Rupe and Georgina Beyer – Gender diversity – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
4. "Seven in a row for Mayor Bob – Local Vote 2004 – NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
5. "Local Body Elections: Winners and Losers". TVNZ. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
6. "Former NZ First MP new Carterton mayor | Radio New Zealand News". Radionz.co.nz. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
7. Crombie, Nathan (25 September 2014). "Tears as Mark bids council farewell". The New Zealand Herald . Wairarapa Times Age . Retrieved 22 November 2025.
8. Piers Fuller (29 October 2014). "Carterton welcomes new mayor – national". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
9. "Three new mayors in Wairarapa". 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
10. "Carterton". Wairarapa Times-Age . 22 June 1944. p. 5. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
11. "Carterton District Council Annual Report 2002/2003" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2003. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
12. Dickson, Walt (16 September 2010). "Three contest Carterton mayoralty". Stuff . Retrieved 20 November 2025.
13. "Annual Report for the year ending 30 June 2010" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
14. "Knowles ousted as deputy by Carter". NZ Herald . Wairarapa Times Age. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
15. "Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2013" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
16. Fuller, Piers (29 October 2014). "Carterton welcomes new mayor". Stuff . Retrieved 17 November 2025.
17. "Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2014" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
18. "Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2016" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
19. "Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2017" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
20. "Carterton District Council Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2021" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 30 June 2021. p. 4. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
21. "Agenda of Ordinary Council meeting – Wednesday, 7 December 2022". carterton.infocouncil.biz. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
22. "Minutes of Ordinary Council meeting – Wednesday, 1 May 2024" (PDF). Carterton District Council. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
23. "Carterton Crier August 2024" (PDF). Carterton Crier. August 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
24. Teodoro, Sue (29 October 2025). "Craig, Grace and Rob: Wairarapa's three new deputy mayors". The Post . Retrieved 15 November 2025.