Nelson Mayor Aldo Miccio's failure to pay a $170 speeding ticket has resulted in a conviction against the Nelson City Council.

The mayor clocked the fine last year while he was driving a council car, but said he "misplaced" the notification when it was passed on to him after it was sent to the council.

The details of the ticket, released in yesterday's council meeting agenda, showed Mr Miccio was caught in an 80kmh zone on State Highway 6 on October 10.

Mr Miccio said he thought he would have been going 10kmh over the speed limit.

"I'm not sure but going by the fine, I imagine it would have been [10kmh].

"I wasn't aware I was going over the speed limit, but it can happen. It's unfortunate but I'll try to not do it again."

Mr Miccio said that because the ticket had not been paid on time, a conviction for failure to pay had been entered against the council – though he had now paid the fine which amounted to just under $200 with court costs.

"Because it's a council car, the bill got made out to council ... council passed it on to me, and for one reason or another the bill got misplaced."

He said he still did not know where the ticket was.

He apologised to ratepayers that the council had been convicted, but said the reason that had happened was because a council staff member did not tell police he was the driver, which would have allowed them to pursue him individually.

"The lesson here within the system is that that wasn't done ... in other cases it gets put under other people's names and it becomes a personal matter."

Mr Miccio said he only had one previous speeding ticket from travelling through Timaru several years ago, where he was going about 10kmh over the speed limit.

"I'm a very cautious driver, most people who know me will attest to that ... but it's happened, I've got to take responsibility for it."

But he doubted he was the first mayor to get one in office.

"I don't imagine I have that dubious honour."

Mr Miccio was not at the council meeting where the revelation was met with anger by several councillors, including Eric Davy who said he was "appalled" the private matter had been disclosed.

"It's making a mountain out of nothing, how many people in New Zealand get speed camera tickets?" Mr Davy said he knew "for a fact" Mr Miccio was not the first mayor to get a speeding ticket.

Acting chief executive Richard Johnson said the matter had been entered on the agenda by former chief executive Keith Marshall.

He said the conviction was a "reputational matter" and needed to be explained in the interests of transparency. "People who might be watching these records, they're entitled to know."