One of the district council's lowest-paid councillors has become the latest to donate a portion of his pay to charity and he's urging others around the region to do the same.
Rotorua Lakes councillor Reynold Macpherson has donated $11,000 to the Rotorua Salvation Army, 20 per cent of his $55,000 salary before tax.
It comes as nationwide debate heats up over whether councillors should take a pay cut in the form of a donation.
Councillors' salary pools are allocated by the remuneration authority and councillors can't take pay cuts but can make voluntary salary donations.
Macpherson urged councillors who were undecided on whether to donate part of their salary to "move quickly because our people need help now".
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick previously said "trying to publicly shame people into a political gesture" was in her opinion "morally indefensible".
This week she told the Rotorua Daily Post everyone had an obligation to consider personal circumstances and contribute where and how they could.
"That might be in time or money," she said.
"Both the chief executive and I have continuously been assessing our individual donations and we have both increased these considerably at this time."
Chadwick said individuals were free to donate to causes of their choice and to make that public or not.
"Many of us prefer to keep that between ourselves and those causes or groups we support."
She said elected members had supported, in principle, a call to freeze elected members' salaries for the 2020/21 financial year.
Council chief executive Geoff Williams said he had accepted a salary freeze until at least June 2021.
"I personally support [the] council's current position that we all have different personal circumstances and at times like this we must, individually, all do everything we can.
"My family and I have for a long time given both time and funding for a range of community groups and causes. During the last few weeks ... we have substantially increased our support and will continue to contribute all we can."
Previously Williams said, "I fundamentally do not support a call to cut pays for the executive team."
Macpherson said he and his wife Nicki made the decision to donate a lump sum from their life savings to the Salvation Army because it was a charity they were already affiliated with - Nicki volunteers there twice a week.
"Our people are suffering and charities like Salvation Army are moving heaven and earth to stretch their scarce resources to help families survive.
"They don't need words from politicians right now, they need support."
Salvation Army corps officer Kylie Overbye said Macpherson's donation meant the charity could continue to meet the needs of those struggling to put food on the table as they were seeing a sharp increase in people seeking help.
"We know ... the effects of Covid-19 will be with us for some time.
"This donation will help sustain the ongoing welfare we can provide to the most vulnerable."
Rotorua councillors earn between $55,000 and $100,000 while the mayor earns $152,000 a year and Williams pay is set at $374,721 with a vehicle allowance of $15,650. At least four other Rotorua councillors have made donations to charity.
Fisher Wang had donated some of his salary to local projects, organisations or community in solidarity with those who had lost income but did not reveal how much.
"I'm not here to 'show off' or to get a pat on the back."
Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson previously said he and his wife made a number of donations each year to areas including youth mental health, youth recreation and wellbeing, and homelessness and were "reviewing the quantum of those" and continuing to spend locally.
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said she already donated to two national organisations and would continue to.
"I continue to work and advocate for all sectors of our community. This was prior to and will most certainly continue after we come out of level 4."
Tania Tapsell has donated an unspecified portion of her salary to organisations which help children and families in high deprivation areas of our communities, including funding education packs for students.
"I had the ability to help and it was just the right thing to do."
Councillors Peter Bentley and Raj Kumar have called for salary cuts while councillors Mercia Yates and Sandra Kai Fong have all previously said the matter was a personal decision they would be happy to discuss.
Government ministers and public sector chief executives are taking a 20 per cent pay cut for six months and in the wider Bay of Plenty Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said he intended to follow the Government's suit in taking a 20 per cent pay reduction but he would not ask the council's executive to do the same.
"It is my intention to donate to a cause or causes that offers support to our homeless as under the banner of the Mayoral Taskforce on Homelessness.
"[The executive team has] been working very long hours throughout the lockdown period as we continue to offer a greater range of support services to our residents while re-positioning ourselves under extremely tight fiscal constraints going forward."
Western Bay mayor Garry Webber stands by previous statements there are no plans for executive team pay cuts and that councillors "earn every last cent" of their $40,022 salaries. He was confident councillors would donate to organisations if they wanted to.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council's senior leadership team of six people has foregone salary increases in the coming financial year and its members are donating 10 per cent of their salaries for a six-month period.
Chief executive Fiona McTavish said they were considering supporting the Acorn Foundation to ensure the donation was directed to those in the region.
She said staff and councillors could also anonymously donate to the fund via the council's payroll system and the council was waiting on a Remuneration Authority determination on any changes to elected member salaries.
In the Eastern Bay Ōpōtiki mayor Lyn Riesterer referred the Rotorua Daily Post to statements made by her and the Kawerau and Whakatāne mayors in a Local Democracy article.
In it Riesterer said she would not be asking staff and councillors to take a pay cut "at a time when their households need it most" but she encouraged them to make voluntary donations to charity if they wanted to.
Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell and Whakatāne mayor Judy Turner did not take a firm stance on the issue.
Campbell said whether staff members' commitment to the council and to the safety of the public needed to be acknowledged.
Turner said provincial councils such as those in the Eastern Bay were already at the lowest end of the remuneration scale and council staff were working incredibly hard.
"Our staff are working at home and will be for some time to come; we need to consider how this impacts on them and their families."
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
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