ARC councillors put their hands up for 3.2 per cent pay rise as end nears

ARC chairman Mike Lee is to get an extra $6000. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Auckland regional councillors have voted for a pay increase months before the council is disbanded.

At a meeting on Monday, councillors voted to accept a pay increase of 3.2 per cent.

The figure is a recommendation from the Remuneration Authority, which gives local government groups and councils a recommended pay figure for councillors each year.

ARC chairman Mike Lee is to get an extra $6000, Radio New Zealand reported which will take his salary to $159,984.

Councillors who chair committees will have their salaries increased to around $46,000 - a rise of just under $2000.

Criticism of the council for choosing to vote for the pay rise only months before it is replaced by the Super City has surfaced.

But ARC spokesman Andrew Bristol said the vote should be looked at in context.

Councillors' pay had not been adjusted for two years.

The 3.2 per cent increase comes a year after Auckland regional councillors unanimously voted not to accept the authority's recommendation for a pay increase.

That was, Mr Bristol said: "Because of concerns about the economic recession."

Councillors at this week's meeting were told they could not reject the authority's increase recommendations as it would affect the way the authority dealt with local government groups throughout the country.

The pay rises take effect from July 1 and the council will be disbanded on October 31.

Mr Bristol said the suggestion that councillors were also benefiting from other increases within council was wrong.

Meeting fees - a payment councillors get on top of their salaries for attending various council meetings - have not been increased.