Mayor granted private use of car
A move to grant Manawatu¯ district’s mayor private use of a council vehicle has created some angst among her colleagues.
Helen Worboys will no longer be required to record her travel in a logbook after councillors voted last week to allow her unrestricted personal use. Worboys, whose council covers 2600 square kilometres and a population of about 30,000, was previously on restricted private use, requiring her to document and justify any use of the vehicle.
Her Toyota Aurion, worth $38,600, travelled about 2200 kilometres each month. The move reduced time spent doing unnecessary paper work and the need to make judgment calls on what trip was required in the logbook, chief executive Richard Templer said.
A deduction, determined by the Remuneration Authority, would be made from Worboys’ salary under the new structure. This was expected to be about $3170 each year. The move was not supported by councillors Hilary Humphrey and Barbara Cameron, who said the mayor needed to be held accountable to ratepayers. Humphrey said creating a digital logbook was an easy way to calculate travel and provide assurance to ratepayers. ‘‘This is public office.’’ Cameron said accountability was vital when dealing with public money.
‘‘You’ve got a vehicle... some mayors don’t have a vehicle. If you’ve got to keep a logbook, keep a logbook, because that’s keeping track of what you do.’’
Community and strategy general manager Brent Limmer said officials had free use of the council fuel card for any trip within Palmerston North and the Manawatu¯ district, but any travel outside that was expected to be covered personally.
The council voted in 2016 that the mayoral vehicle would be provided for council business only, but councillors said keeping upto-date with logbooks had become a hassle and Worboys’ time was better spent elsewhere. Cr Howard Voss and Andrew Quarrie both said it was a sensible shift, using their farming experiences.