Deputy mayor valued

Editor,

I am writing in regards to the recent article around our city councillors accepting that the deputy mayor’s salary be cut by 10 per cent to align with the committee chair. As a person who works across sectors and in the community on a regular basis I was very shocked to see this considering the amount of work Liz Kelly does for Porirua City both locally and regionally.

I am really struggling to understand the rationale behind this notion, as the committee chair’s role, workload or status does not compare with a deputy mayor of a city. I have not done the research around this yet, but would be surprised if other city councils in NZ shared the same view on salary scales for deputy mayors compared to committee chairs.

The mayor of Hutt City recently stated on radio he was shocked to hear this had happened as he sees Mrs Kelly represent Porirua professionally on a regional scale consistently and he hoped it wasn’t personal. I sincerely hope this isn’t a personal attack on Mrs Kelly from her colleagues as many residents would agree with me that she does more than enough at all levels to earn the original deputy mayor salary.

CASSIUS KURESA, Titahi Bay. heart is. Are you seriously saying a committee chair works harder than our deputy Liz Kelly?

N MAKA, Ascot Park.