The pay for Rotorua Lakes councillors is set from a pool decided on by the Remuneration Authority. Photo / NZME
The pay for Rotorua Lakes councillors is set from a pool decided on by the Remuneration Authority. Photo / NZME
Half of Rotorua’s councillors could be paid almost, or above, six-figure salaries if their proposed pay is approved next week.
The topic is up for discussion at the first Rotorua Lakes Council meeting of the year and has historically been a contentious one. The allocation of money will be set next Wednesday, the highest figure being $143,787 - not far off the mayor’s pay.
What each councillor is paid is set from a pool decided on by The Remuneration Authority, which looks at what key public office holders such as councillors should be getting.
The agenda for the upcoming council meeting details how the authority sets a remuneration “pool” based upon factors such as the size of the governance roles of each council, the average time required by an elected member on a council of a particular size, and a general comparison with parliamentary salaries.
It did not include mayors or community board members and the pool for each council was required to be fully allocated. Rotorua Lakes Council’s allocated pool for 2022/2023 is $858,787.
Council sets its own base pay, so long as it is above the set minimum of $59,442.
Before last year’s election the pool sat at $786,353.
The mayoral pay was set at $159,679 by the authority. This was up from $152,000 as set for the 2021/2022 period.
Councils made recommendations to the authority on the allocation of their own salary pools among various positions that councillors undertake. More responsibility means more pay.
Councillors will make a decision to approve recommendations set by staff on the topic next week at the first full council meeting of the year.
Governance and Democracy adviser Rick Dunn prepared the Additional Responsibilities Remuneration 2022-2023 report outlining the information on how the pay was set.
In his report, Dunn said the council adopted its committee structure and filled deputy mayor, chair and deputy co-chair roles in December.
A starting point of $65,000 was recommended in the report. This compared to the previous $57,696.
Deputy mayor Sandra Kai Fong at the first official council meeting last year. Photo / Andrew Warner
Deputy mayor Sandra Kai Fong could be the highest paid, $143,787, for her roles, including Community and District Development committee chairwoman.
Councillors Gregg Brown, Rawiri Waru, Karen Barker and Fisher Wang could each get $97,500 for their roles as committee deputy co-chairs while the five remaining councillors could receive $65,000.
Base salaries across the country varied. Gisborne District Council’s set base salary for councillors was $41,610, while over at New Plymouth District Council it was $48,531.
Auckland Council was working with a pool of $2,592,269, while the likes of Kaikōura District Council got $204,089.
Similar to Rotorua, Waikato District Council had been given a pool of $832,914.
Other items on the meeting agenda included mapping out key milestones for the council in its Annual Plan 2023/24 process, as well as the recommended adoption of its Submissions Policy.
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