Port boss gets $540k to top Bay salary list

Napier Port chief executive Garth Cowie's is the highest paid chief executive in the Hawke's Bay according to a survey. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay is home to at least one chief executive on a remuneration package of more than $500,000 a Hawke's Bay Today survey of chief executive and civil leaders' salaries shows.

Napier Port chief executive Garth Cowie's remuneration of $540,000-$550,000 for the 2014 financial year puts him at the top of the survey's remuneration table.

The package pales in comparison to Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns' remuneration, however. Mr Cairns received remuneration, including a long-term incentive payment, of between $1,460,000 and $1,470,000 for the same period.

Second on the Hawke's Bay table was District Health Board chief executive Dr Kevin Snee, who received remuneration of between $430,000 and $439,999 in 2013.

Third was former Hawke's Bay Regional Council chief executive, now Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company chief executive, Andrew Newman, on a $380,000 salary until at least March next year.

Hawke's Bay Today asked what Unison chief executive Ken Sutherland was paid but was told it would not be disclosed. Unison chairman Kevin Atkinson's remuneration was reported as $131,400 for the year ending March 31, 2014.

The salaries of Pan Pac managing director Doug Ducker and Radius Medical Solutions chief executive Adri Isbister were also requested but not disclosed.

John McGill, chief executive of remuneration consultants Strategic Pay, said several factors influenced what some might see as very high pay packages.

"When companies are interviewing people for a chief executive, they are generally in an international environment, so they literally have to look around the world for people.

"The dilemma [employers] face is they have to meet that market if they want to attract the right people and so also meet the structure of pay which is common for those jobs. That's where you get into short and long-term benefits that mean the big packages."

In regional centres, such as Hawke's Bay, a chunk of the top earners generally worked in the public sector, which came with the added complexity of having high local profiles, he said.

"When something goes wrong in an organisation - or in a council's case, a district or city - you don't look to the technical or administrative staff, you say, 'well, who's running this show, and why did they let this happen?"'

The top council earner in the Hawke's Bay Today survey was Hastings District Council chief executive Ross McLeod, who earned $294,732 in the 2014 financial year.