Mayor & councillors
Ballarat has 9 councillors, one for each ward, elected in October 2024 for the term to October 2028. Voters don't elect the Mayor directly: the councillors choose the Mayor and Deputy Mayor each November, for a 12-month term. On 10 November 2025 they re-elected Cr Tracey Hargreaves as Mayor and Cr Ben Taylor as Deputy Mayor for 2025/26.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- How the mayor is chosen
- Either elected directly by voters, or chosen by the councillors.
- Ward
- A subdivision of a council area that elects its own councillors.
- Local Government Area (LGA)
- The official area a council governs.
Who represents you
- Mayor
- Cr Tracey Hargreaves (Delacombe Ward)Re-elected by the councillors on 10 November 2025 for 2025/26, her second term as Mayor after 2024/25. The council's Mayor and Deputy Mayor page still carries the 2024/25 heading; the council's 10 November 2025 announcement confirms the 2025/26 result. The Mayor's office also uses mayor@ballarat.vic.gov.au.Council announcement →
- Deputy Mayor
- Cr Ben Taylor (Buninyong Ward)Re-elected Deputy Mayor for 2025/26, his third time in the role (council announcement). Several council releases in September 2026 name Cr Taylor as Acting Mayor.
- Councillors
- 9 — one per wardMatches the Victorian Electoral Commission's list of current councillors (checked Sep 2026).
- Next mayoral election
- Due in November 2026The council elects its Mayor and Deputy Mayor each November at a Statutory Meeting. It hadn't published the 2026 date on the pages we checked (Sep 2026); its scheduled November council meeting is on 25 November 2026. This page will be updated after the vote.2026 meeting dates →
- Changes since the 2024 election
- NoneThe VEC lists no Ballarat by-election or countback since October 2024; its latest Ballarat entry is a 2015 countback under the previous ward structure.
Your representatives
Tracey Hargreaves
Mayor / Councillor · Delacombe Ward
Ben Taylor
Deputy Mayor / Councillor · Buninyong Ward
Damon Saunders
Councillor · Alfredton Ward
Ted Lapkin
Councillor · Brown Hill Ward
Samantha McIntosh
Councillor · Central Ward
Tess Morgan
Councillor · Golden Point Ward
Jim Rinaldi
Councillor · North Ward
Des Hudson
Councillor · Sebastopol Ward
Jay Morrison
Councillor · Wendouree Ward
Want to raise something? Contacting your ward councillor or the mayor is one of the most direct ways to be heard between elections.
Victorian council ballot papers and results don't show party affiliation, so we don't label councillors. We list who holds office, with their council email addresses, and link to each councillor's page on the council website and to the election results. The council styles Cr Hudson 'Cr Des Hudson OAM'. If a seat in a single-councillor ward falls vacant with more than 6 months of the term left, it is filled by a by-election, not a countback. For the latest list, see the council's page or the VEC.
Sources — check it yourself
- City of Ballarat — Councillors and Wards · Sep 2026
- City of Ballarat — Mayor and Deputy Mayor · Sep 2026
- City of Ballarat — Cr Tracey Hargreaves elected as Ballarat Mayor for 2025/26 (10 Nov 2025) · Nov 2025
- Victorian Electoral Commission — Ballarat City Council (current councillors) · Sep 2026
- City of Ballarat — 2026 Agendas and Minutes (meeting dates) · Sep 2026
- City of Ballarat — Acting Mayor's Message, 25 September 2026 · Sep 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — By-elections and countbacks timeline · Sep 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — 2024 Ballarat City Council election results · Nov 2024
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.