In today's headlines with Wilhelmina Shrimpton, supermarkets leave Kiwis out of pocket, five people charged over Matthew Perry death, City Mission food parcels still suspended.
Newly elected Tauranga councillors will earn six-figure salaries for their work.
The council set their remuneration at the first TaurangaCity Council meeting on Thursday.
The Remuneration Authority set the mayor’s salary at $179,316 and the pool for councillors at $1,242,581 which is divided among them. The entire pool must be spent.
The Tauranga council at their swearing in; Marten Rozeboom, Kevin Schuler, Glen Crowther, Steve Morris, Mahé Drysdale, Jen Scoular, Rick Curach, Hautapu Baker, Rod Taylor. Absent: Mikaere Sydney. Photo / David Hall: SunLive.
Drysdale recommended the minimum salary for a councillor with no extra responsibilities be $110,000, with an extra $25,900 for councillors who were a chairperson or deputy chairperson of a committee.
There are seven committees and all of the councillors have a leadership role in at least one of them.
This meant all councillors would be paid $135,900.
Drysdale said he’d had discussions with councillors and as they were a team of 10 and everyone wanted to contribute, they were looking at a “fairly flat” remuneration structure.
This was more than the minimum of $87,695 set by the Remuneration Authority.
There was the potential for a bit of discomfort from the public about the pay for a councillor “that’s not on the job”, said Curach.
Scoular said she did not believe it would be a cause for concern.
Welcome Bay councillor Hautapu Baker said he didn’t want Sydney’s pay to “fall negatively on him … considering he’s been unable to debate, discuss, agree or disagree with the entire process”.
Matua/Ōtūmoetai councillor Glen Crowther asked if it was meant to be a flat pay structure, could the base salary for a councillor be $135,900, with additional responsibilities not attracting extra pay.
Council democracy and governance services manager Coral Hair said the pool could be allocated how the council liked.
The Remuneration Authority needed a description of extra responsibilities and why that deserved extra pay because it gave the final approval for the pay structure, she said.
Councillors Rick Curach, Glen Crowther, Hautapu Baker and Jen Scoular. Photo / Alisha Evans.
Crowther put forward an amendment that a councillor’s base pay be $135,900 a year.
This was passed with eight in favour; Drysdale and Curach were against it.
It meant all councillors including Sydney would receive an annual salary of $135,900.
Sydney’s leave of absence is until December 31.
The council’s seven committees are Vision, Planning, Growth and Environment Committee; Project Planning and Monitoring Committee; Community, Transparency and Engagement Committee; Accountability, Performance and Finance Committee; Audit and Risk Committee; Tangata Whenua / Tauranga City Council Committee and the Wastewater Management Review Committee.
Drysdale said the committee structure would help the council realise the ambition of being the best city in Aotearoa.
“As a council, the whole elected member team will be responsible for providing effective and efficient governance of the city and enabling informed leadership, advocacy and facilitation on behalf of our community,” he said in a statement.
