Prominent figures have signed an open letter opposing Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed long-term lease to operate the council-owned Port of Auckland.
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Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has laid into his former chief executive after it emerged Auckland Council recruited 211 staff on salaries above $150,000 during a 12-month period in which the organisation was attempting to fill a $375 million budget hole.
A frustrated Brown says he is confident thecouncil’s new chief executive, Phil Wilson, will have a reduction in high-end staff sorted by the end of June, after complaining he found it difficult to do so with the previous chief executive, Jim Stabback.
“I mean, it is part of my kaupapa [to reduce staff costs], and I’ve only just, you know... it took me until Christmas to get somebody who was reasonable,” Brown said, referring to his views on the replacement of Stabback with Wilson in July 2023.
“The chief executive [Wilson] is definitely reducing the number of people at the high end, which is the best place to [make] much of [the] savings.
“It took me a while to un-get the last guy... I certainly did not shed a tear [when Stabback left].”
This amounted to the recruitment of 3936 roles across Auckland Council and its council-controlled organisations (CCOs) Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Watercare.
Of these roles, 211 had salaries above $150,000 - the combined amount of which would have been more than $34,725,000.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and then-Auckland Council chief executive Jim Stabback greet each other on the first day of Brown's term as mayor. Photo / Michael Craig
While expressing faith in Wilson, Brown was also very frustrated by the number of staff in the council, and also in the current Government, who were earning more than his salary of $296,000.
“The chief executive is definitely reducing the number of people at the high end. It is annoying that 75 of them get more than I get - the mayor,” Brown said, referring to council staff.
“I’ve told them that number better f***ing come down. It’s annoying that [Government] ministers get more than I do as well… Some of them I’ve never heard of and never will. My job at least should be equal to the deputy prime minister. I’ve got 30 per cent of New Zealand’s [population] and 40 per cent of the economy [to oversee] - they haven’t.”
Government ministers do not necessarily earn more than the Auckland mayor - with a salary band between $250,000 to $296,000.
Stabback was made aware of the mayor’s comments around recruitment spend and high-end salaries via Auckland Council. Stabback did not wish to comment for this article.
The Auckland mayor’s office had previously indicated this $7.4m recruitment spend over a 12-month period occurred during a hiring freeze across Auckland Council for much of that time.
However, a council spokeswoman clarified to the Herald that a “hiring freeze” suggests no roles will be recruited for and no new roles created.
“We have never had a hiring freeze; rather, the executive team applied even more controls to recruitment requests. This has been the case for the last few years,” the spokeswoman said.
“The controls include ensuring that the vacancy needs to be filled and that roles are not already subject to potential savings initiatives. The reason a council would not have a blanket ‘hiring freeze’ is that we have regulatory and safety critical roles that need to be delivered.”
Auckland Council, including its CCOs Eke Panuku and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, recruited 128 of these roles with $150,000 plus salaries.
Auckland Transport recruited 33 roles with salaries of $150,000-plus - including a new chief executive on a salary between $600,000-630,000.
Watercare recruited 40 people for roles with $150,000-plus salaries.
Wilson explained that of the 128 roles Auckland Council, Eke Panuku and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited recruited for during the 12-month period in question, 90 of them were internal movements.
Former Auckland Council chief executive Jim Stabback (left) and current chief executive Phil Wilson. Photo / Jason Oxenham
While conceding some of these individuals may have received a percentage increase when they were recruited into their new roles within the council, Wilson stressed this does not simply indicate 90 additional roles with salaries over $150,000 were added to the organisation’s payroll.
Wilson also explained the proposal to reduce Auckland Council’s second and third-tier management layers in a new structure that will be implemented by July 1, after the adoption of the budget set out in the council’s Long Term Plan.
“The reason the large majority of roles at these two tiers are proposed to be disestablished, along with some supporting roles, is that any new roles are designed to be larger with clearer accountability and the leadership expectations we’re looking for will change as a result,” Wilson said.
“Because we’re at the very start of this process and the consultation document proposes different scenarios for some areas, it’s far too soon to say exactly how many positions will be disestablished and how many created – although we do anticipate it to be a net reduction.”
But Wilson claimed the proposal is not about reducing headcount to meet a savings target.
“Our budget pressures are well-documented, but as we’ve outlined in the consultation document, this proposal is one piece of work we have under way to help us set ourselves up for the future and effectively deliver on the Long Term Plan and for Aucklanders.”
The management shake-up follows more than 500 jobs losses across the council and CCOs last year as part of Brown’s first, cost-cutting budget.
In an 83-page document on the proposed changes called “Strengthen our leadership for the future”, Wilson said after 13 years and events like a global pandemic, severe weather and rising inflation, it was time to refresh the senior leadership and create fewer, bigger general management roles.
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
