Not for the first time since October's elections, Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby recently burbled on he'll not be up for the mayoralty race in 2016.

Who cares - Tauranga would have been better off had he thrown in the towel in 2007, stopping the financial haemorrhaging much earlier.

Receipt of only 10,600 votes from 84,800 enrolled voters in 2013 - you do the maths - tells a tale about voters' views on Crosby's lacklustre performances in the last 10 years, which has seen council debt hurtle skywards to the wide blue yonder and TCC staff numbers go through the roof.

It's way past time for a change, debt reduction and a drastic slashing of TCC staff numbers.

Frightening but maybe Crosby is angling for a possible amalgamated councils' premiership.

Nowadays, the vast majority of local voters would recognise this as an accident looking for a place to happen. The current uproar over a new executive officer-come-spin doctor really highlights mayoral shortcomings. Spare us the eulogising too.

The last thing we need is early electioneering from greenhorn politician Kelvin Clout with his backslapping and rabbiting about Crosby's perceived achievements. If a notable strong local identity candidate comes out of the woodwork, neither Messieurs Clout nor Crosby would be elected mayor anyway.

G Kelly, Papamoa.