Chris Gardner The Hastings District Council has adopted a new pay scale which sees deputy mayor Cynthia Bowers hold on to $17,000 more than then the basic councillor salary. The model, drawn up by Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule after a $10,000 cash injection from the Remuneration Authority, came under fire from newFlaxmere ward councillor David Pearse at Thursday's council meeting when he objected to Cr Bowers taking home $40,175. Cr Bowers' salary is $749 more than she earned last year when she was still chairwoman of the council's landmarks committee which has now been disbanded. "She is not chairing a committee then why is she getting an extra 15 per cent," Cr Pearse asked before saying the issue should have been discussed at the council's inaugural meeting. Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule, who proposed the new pay scale, said he did not want the inaugural meeting to be bogged down with debate about who gets paid what and had reserved the issue for the first business meeting. He defended Cr Bowers' salary, saying that her workload as deputy mayor coupled with her taking on the large format retail and Nelson Park portfolio warranted the salary he had set. The model, which was approved by all but Cr Pearse, saw a $1,175 reduction for committee chairs who also sit on the hearings committee. Since hearings committee chairwoman Cr Dinah Williams receives a higher hourly rate than other members of the committee the base salary was reduced by $2,572 so that all committee chairmen received the same - $33,772. The basic councillors' salary was raised by $434 to $23,291. Councillors on the hearings committee, Richard Jones, Mick Lester, Tim Tinker, Norm Speers, Margaret Twigg and Keriana Poulain, will all receive $23,963 - an increase of $446. Cr Twigg, who is also deputy chairman of the works committee, felt the new pay scale was inequitable. "There is a strong feeling that the ordinary councillor gets about $12,000 less than the chairmen," Cr Twigg said. Cr Dean Hyde was fatalistic about the process, saying the determination would be short-lived since council structure would change in the coming year following an upcoming local government review.
