Councillors decide pay structure

Deputy mayor Richard Jordan will be the highest-paid councillor under the new pay structure approved by New Plymouth councillors.

At Tuesday’s full meeting of the New Plymouth District Council, which lasted almost six hours, councillors had to allocate their own pay from an annual pool of $778,568.

Councillor Murray Chong took no part in the discussion as he felt it was a conflict of interest. But the rest of the group went with mayor Neil Holdom’s recommendation of a higher figure for the deputy mayor and the chairs of four committees: Strategy and Operations, Finance, Audit and Risk, Te Huinga Taumatua and Strategic Projects.

Deputy mayor Richard Jordan will get an annual salary of $80,368, councillor Stacey Hitchcock will receive $65,299, Councillor Richard Handley will receive $60,276, Councillor Gordon Brown will receive $60,276 and councillor Harry Duynhoven will get paid $60,276.

‘‘There is no perfect way to allocate the pool.’’

Neil Holdom

NPDC mayor

All other councillors will receive the base salary of $50,230.

Councillor Marie Pearce said she thought that option worled very well.

‘‘These committee chairs have got a significant role to play.’’

Holdom, whose salary – $142,271 in the last financial year – does not come out of the pool, said the only way to describe the process was ‘‘awkward’’.

Councillors should not have been forced into the unfortunate situation of deciding their own pay, he said. ‘‘There is no perfect way to allocate the pool but I believe this is a fair and appropriate approach to take.’’