Ballarat Mayoral Race: Cr Saunders to run against Cr Hargreaves.

Consistency or change: who will lead the council for the next 12 months?

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By Bryan Hoadley

November 7 2025 - 2:22pm

Alfredton ward councillor Damon Saunders says he will donate about $90,000 of his salary to local charities if elected to be City of Ballarat mayor.

This week, Cr Saunders announced that he would run for the position, with councillors set to vote for the new mayor and deputy mayor on Monday, November 10.

He will contest the position against incumbent mayor Tracey Hargreaves, while Councillor Jim Rinaldi will run against Councillor Ben Taylor for the role of Deputy Mayor.

City of Ballarat councillors will elect a mayor and a deputy mayor on Monday, November 10.

"I'm running to be mayor because I love Ballarat and I want to help make it a better place to live, work and visit," Cr Saunders said.

"I'm not doing it for the money or for personal attention, but it would be a great honour.

"The mayor's wage ... is approximately $142,000 per year. I would do the job full-time for one year for approximately $52,000, and I would donate the rest of the money, which is about $90,000, to worthy charities in the Ballarat area."

If elected by his fellow councillors, Cr Saunders said he would only hold the position for one year, and that he wouldn't take any overseas trips as mayor.

"(I will be) honest in order to pursue continuous improvement, to increase transparency, responsibility and accountability at the City of Ballarat council," he said.

"I care about us and the city delivering the best value for money to Ballarat residents. I don't like wasting ratepayers' money, which is why I want to help us deliver continuous improvement."

Cr Saunders' rival on Monday night will be Cr Hargreaves, who said she was "wholeheartedly" putting herself up for another term as mayor.

She said that she would be a good choice to lead the council again, having now had a year's experience in the "absolutely life-changing role".

"Honestly, it's a really big job and I feel like it does take a bit of time to get across and be really competent in it," she said.

"I feel like I've had that investment back in me of the year to learn, and I just want to continue.

"Continuity and stability are really important for the organisation. Also, the mayor is the main principal spokesperson between the organisation and the public, I think that's something that's worth having stability and continuity around as well."

Deputy mayor puts hand up again

Cr Taylor has worked alongside Cr Hargreaves during her first term, and he also believes consistency in the mayoral role is positive.

He said this had been proved over previous years, where Councillor Des Hudson and Daniel Moloney both held the position for consecutive terms.

"There's been a bit of a history in that over the last few mayors, that having consistency for a couple of years does help, especially with a new term," he said.

"Having a mayor in there for two years does help, especially as you've come in with a new council plan, the budget and then you've got new councillors, so it does give that stability.

"I think that has merit, but the vote comes down to nine councillors, so it comes down to what the nine councillors agree is a good idea to get the mayor over the line."

When asked if he was confident of being elected as deputy mayor, Cr Taylor said it would come down to his fellow councillors.

"You never know what happens until we see the majority of hands go up," he said.

"Hopefully, the work that I've done over the last 12 months to support Tracey (Hargreaves), being available, and also making sure that delegation goes through to other councillors when it's ward-based issues.

"Hopefully, that's demonstrated a good opportunity for councillors to support me again."

On Monday, Cr Rinaldi will contest Cr Taylor for the role of deputy mayor. He said that he wanted to provide greater accountability to the council and better value to ratepayers.

When referring to the three Rs of council - roads, rates, rubbish - he said there should be a fourth R for responsibility.

"(Responsibility is about) good accountability and looking after ratepayers' money," Cr Rinaldi said.

"This is a change in a new direction, (with) accountability and being thorough in what we're doing."

Bryan Hoadley

Journalist