On 9 February 2021, the New Zealand Government suspended the Tauranga City Council, the largest city in the Bay of Plenty Region, and appointed a government commission of four administrators to the territorial authority instead. Anne Tolley was the chair of the commission. The suspension was to last until October 2022, in time for the 2022 New Zealand local elections, but was later extended to July 2024. The voters of Tauranga were thus having a local election outside of the normal three-yearly cycle and because the next New Zealand local elections are to be held just fourteen months later, the electoral term for the incoming council was set at four years.