Philip Penfold has vowed to stop Maitland City Council's planned fortnightly bin collection after claiming victory in the mayoral election on Tuesday.
The independent councillor won the mayoralty with 51.3 per cent of the vote to Labor incumbent Loretta Baker's 48.7 per cent after preferences, a swing of 6.1 per cent in his favour after he lost to Cr Baker in 2017.
It was Cr Penfold's third attempt at winning the job.
He was the only candidate in the Hunter to unseat a sitting mayor in his month's local government elections.
Cr Penfold said the planned move to fortnightly general waste collection from 2024 had been a "driving issue" in the election.
The council voted in April to change its bin collection schedule, but Cr Penfold, who is likely to have the numbers to control council decisions, said he would move to rescind that motion while "continuing to work with experts on waste-minimisation strategies".
He had committed to "returning Maitland back to basics" and not applying for rates rises above the cap set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal each year.
He said he would push to introduce a bulk waste collection service.
"There has been a view that, if you implement a new service, all of a sudden you need to add rate income to achieve that," he said.
"My first step will be let's look at living within the budget that we have and what we might need to sacrifice to do something different.
"People are upset with the level of rates."
Cr Penfold said he would work with Cr Baker, who was re-elected as a councillor in central ward.
"While we don't always see eye to eye on issues, her passion for our city is undeniable, and I look forward to working with her and all councillors for the betterment of our community," he said on social media.
Cr Baker said her successor could struggle to unify the council after running a "divisive" and "negative" campaign for four years.
"It was about division," she said.
"In a leadership position, your job is to bring people together for the greater good of the city.
"I'm not sure how he's going to do that. He's going to have to do it; he has no choice."
She said reversing the council's decision to collect general waste every fortnight would be "a step backwards".
"It is about sustainability. Overnight recycling changes, and we have no right to use up all the resources then throw them in a hole in the ground," she said.
The Liberals' Ben Mitchell won 14.6 per cent of the mayoral vote.
Each of the four wards will be represented again by one Labor, one Liberal and one independent councillor.
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