Councillors Phil Halse, left, Nicholas Connop and Vince Cocurullo listen to a briefing on elected member remuneration.
Photo/Michael Cunningham
Councillors Phil Halse, left, Nicholas Connop and Vince Cocurullo listen to a briefing on elected member remuneration.
Photo/Michael Cunningham
Remuneration for elected members of the Whangārei District Council was the first item on their briefings agenda, before discussing other priorities for the next three years.
Three days after being sworn in, the councillors and mayor Sheryl Mai met yesterday in council chambers where they were briefed by manager democracy and assurance Tracey Schiebli on the process around their pay.
The Remuneration Authority undertook a review last year and made changes to the way pay rates for local government officials are set.
It has adopted a set of revised and updated sizes of each council's governance role based on a number of indicators.
The size rankings are not related to the number of councillors on any council and will not be affected if councillor numbers increase or decrease in future.
A local government pay scale has been created, generally using parliamentary remuneration as a comparator.
The second change is in the way the authority sets remuneration for councillors, including deputy mayors and committee chairmen.
Under the system used for the past several years, the authority has set a base councillor rate for each council then a sum equal to the base pay of two councillors to pay extra remuneration to those undertaking positions of responsibility, such as deputy mayors or chairmen of committees.
In each case, the councils themselves make recommendations to the authority on how the pool should be allocated, and those recommendations are then considered by the authority before making its determination.
Under the new approach, the authority has created a total "governance remuneration pool" for each council, reflecting the ranking of that council and the total amount available for councillors.
When new councils are sworn in, they will be invited to give the authority recommendations on how its pool should be distributed among the councillors.
The recommendations will include a rate for base councillor remuneration and rates for all positions of responsibility.
The authority will then consider the councils' recommendations before determining the remuneration payable to members.
First-term Councillor Ken Couper during a briefing on elected representatives pay.
Photo/Michael Cunningham
WDC has been allocated $815,063 for the deputy mayor, councillors and committee chairs.
The mayor's pay is not affected and has been set at $156,000 per annum.
Sheryl Mai said discussion on remuneration rates was quite normal and was a requirement from the authority.
WDC is expected to forward its recommendations to the authority before the end of this month.
Former mayor of Rodney John Law said there was nothing untoward towards discussing members' remuneration in light of changes made by the authority.
"In the past, elected members including committee chairs knew what they will get paid if they get elected. Now, the authority will have the final say so it's logical councillors will want to know their pay rates before deciding whether they wish to take on additional responsibilities."
The Far North District Councillors also discussed their remuneration at their meeting last week while the Kaipara District Council focused on explaining laws affecting its elected representatives last week.
