Councillors to set pay

New Plymouth’s councillors will today decide how much they are paid out of an annual pool of $778,568.

Last term, New Plymouth District councillors were paid $44,280 a year. Those who chaired a committee received more, as did the deputy mayor.

Council staff are recommending that either the money is distributed equally between the 14 members or the councillors choose one of four options for giving more to those with more responsibility – from recognising the deputy mayor only to recognising the deputy mayor and the chairs of most committees.

Splitting the amount evenly would work out to $55,612 each, a report to today’s full council meeting says.

Councillor Gordon Brown said the salary last term was about right.

‘‘Those who had extra duties and extra work did get extra money and that was fair,’’ Brown said.

Whether the remuneration was fair depended a lot on how much an individual put in, Brown added.

‘‘Nobody expects it to be a full-time job or that you live off your salary, but sometimes it can feel like a part-time remuneration for a full-time commitment.

‘‘I don’t appreciate the Government giving us the role to have to decide our own salaries. No one wants to do that.’’

Mayor Neil Holdom, whose salary – $142,271 in the last financial year – does not come out of the pool, agreed the figures should be set by the Remuneration Authority, as is the case for the mayor and community boards.

‘‘My understanding is the Remuneration Authority was established to do this very thing. Politicians setting their own pay is not a good look.

‘‘Our councillors work really hard. I don’t believe any of the councillors are doing this for the remuneration.’’

First-term councillor Tony Bedford said he was the first to agree that workloads differed.

But they should not start debating who is worth how much, he said.

‘‘At the end of the day we’re all there. We’ve all got subcommittees. Some of us have got community boards.’’

Councillor Harry Duynhoven said last term’s system seemed to be a fairly workable model.

First-term councillor Sam Bennett said he was sure there would be an option he would be happy with.

‘‘Anybody just wants to be fairly remunerated.’’