Hamilton Council boss gets pay rise amidst budget cuts

File Photo / Supplied

Hamilton City Council boss Barry Harris has picked up a 2 per cent pay rise - boosting his salary to $367,200.

But there wasn't full support from the elected wing over whether their only employee should get an increase as some argued it was not the right time when they were slashing budgets.

However the council approved a 2 per cent increase which took his salary from $360,000 to $367,200. The 2 per cent increase was inline with the maximum amount Mr Harris has approved for his own staff for the next financial year.

Mr Harris also received the remaining $18,0000 of his salary which was at-risk because he had met the performance targets set for his first year in the job.

The former Fonterra manager and Waikato Regional Council boss filled the seat in April 2011 after it was left by Michael Redman and has had to clean up the mess from the V8s and the Claudelands Event Centre.

However the role of picking the the council's historic mistakes ended last month and he was criticised for his leadership over floodgate - which caused huge community uproar after thousands of households were sent letters telling them their properties were at risk of flooding.

Some city councillors have also previously spoken about his "hands-off approach" which has earned him the nickname "Barry Potter".

Hamilton mayor Julie Hardaker said the amount was below market rate and the council was fortunate he had accepted the level of increase.

The increase was also below the recommendation from salary experts which said the job was worth between $370,000 and $374,000.

The discussion over whether to approve his pay went on for two hours before councillors voted 9-4 to give him the increase and 10-3 to approve the at-risk portion. However the Herald understands legal advice presented to the council showed it had a weak argument if it was to withhold the at risk portion and it voted to remove the at-risk component for the coming year.

Pay rise:

The vote for Barry Harris' 2 per cent pay increase to $$367,200:

For: Julie Hardaker, Daphne Bell, Peter Bos, Gordon Chesterman, Margaret Forsyth, John Gower, Roger Hennebry, Pippa Mahood, Maria Westphal

Against: Ewan Wilson, Dave Macpherson, Angela O'Leary and Martin Gallagher