Whangarei councillors to get payrise

Whangarei District Councillors and Mayor are in for a pay rise of between 3 and five per cent. PHOTO/DIANE STOPPARD

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai says she is embarrassed at her pay rise and is anxious how the externally-set council salaries will be perceived by ratepayers.

Whangarei District Councillors will receive a pay rise of almost 5 per cent this year, with the mayor getting a 3 per cent raise.

"I personally feel embarrassed that we've been deemed to deserve more money," Ms Mai said. "It's not as though we have a performance review, so from that perspective it's a little bit odd."

Committee chairs - Shelley Deeming, Greg Innes and Greg Martin - along with with deputy mayor Sharon Morgan would cash in their council pay cheque for $58,500 in the 2015/16 financial year, up 4.9 per cent on last year's $55,750. The new rates would be backdated to July 1. Other councillors would also receive a 4.9 per cent raise, taking them from $44,600 to $46,800.

Mayor Sheryl Mai would get an additional $4,050, taking her from $130,780 to $134,830. Wage growth for the general population nationwide was 1.7 per cent between March 2014 and March 2015 - according to the most recent Statistics New Zealand available.

A spokeswoman for the Engineering, Print and Manufacturing Union said their average contract settlement so far this year was a 2.4 per cent increase.

"That's going to be higher than the average for workers because those is unions are much more likely to get a rise. The statistics for last year showed that about half of workers didn't get a payrise at all," she said.

The salaries for general councillors and the mayor were set by the independent Remuneration Authority using a formula which took into account councillor job size, the area's population and council expenditure. Councils were then invited to make representation for additional remuneration for committee chairs and the deputy mayor.

The mayor said this year's pay rises happened automatically - as opposed to past years where they had required a council resolution to come into effect.

"I can imagine how people will perceive this - we've increased rates and got a pay rise," Ms Mai said. "We go through this every year [with the Authority]. Asking, why are you putting us in this situation?"

She said if council as a whole had the opportunity to turn down the rise she had no doubt it would do so, but it was now up to each individual councillor to decide what they wanted to do with the extra money.

The mayor had not decided yet what she would do. "Until it comes through you don't really know what that extra amount in the pay packet is. I will continue to work hard for it."

Authority deputy chair Angela Foulkes said councils were advised of their pay rates for the coming financial year in April.

Councils were not able to reject outright the pay rate set by the authority. This was meant to stop councils paying themselves an inappropriate amount and using pay rates as a political football. Councillors could though donate their rise to another cause.