Goff: It’s got to STOP
Tens of thousands paid in bonuses Unelected Auckland boards reward staff with generous salary extras
38 Panuku staff paid bonuses totalling $451,156 20
Watercare staff paid bonuses totalling $543,000 5
Ateed staff got $121,682 in bonuses last year.
Senior executives at four of Auckland’s council-controlled organisations were paid $1.1 million in bonuses last year — and mayor Phil Goff wants to stamp out the practice. Goff is getting lawyered up to stop the unelected directors of CCOs dishing out bonuses after news Panuku chief executive Roger MacDonald got an $82,500 pay rise last year, most of that by way of a bonus. The Herald can also reveal 38
Panuku staff were paid bonuses totalling $451,156 at an average of $11,872 each in the past year. Of Watercare’s 940 staff, 20 were paid bonuses totalling $543,000 at an average of $27,150 each.
The salary of Watercare chief executive Raveen Jaduram rose $50,000 last year to about $775,000, mostly via a bonus.
At Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed), five executives were paid $121,682 in bonuses in the past year, an average of $24,336 each.
Regional Facilities Auckland chief executive Chris Brooks is not paid a bonus, but one executive receives a bonus based on an old employment contract. Last year, the executive was paid a bonus of $15,000 for exceeding a target of $15.3m gross commercial revenue for the CCO.
The Auckland Council and Auckland Transport — the two largest council bodies — do not pay bonuses.
Goff said he was not in favour of
performance-recognition pay. “I’ve asked staff to look at how that can be stopped and to provide legal advice on that, and I intend it to be part of the CCO review.”
An independent review of the five CCOs is a top priority for Goff in his second term.
Panuku chairwoman Adrienne Young-Cooper said that in 2017 the executive team established a performance-based reward framework that was approved by the board.
She said performance-based payments are standard industry practice for senior executive roles like those at Panuku. The board reviewed the scheme in June and agreed to maintain it for a year to remain competitive with the market, she said.
Young-Cooper said that in September last year MacDonald received a 2 per cent salary rise and a bonus for the previous year totalling $82,500. The bonus payments to 38 staff reported in the 2018-19 report were for the previous financial year, she said.
Watercare chair Margaret Devlin said key performance indicators were not about giving someone a bonus for just doing their job.
Devlin said she would work with Goff regarding the most appropriate remuneration strategy for the organisation in the marketplace.
Ateed chairman Mark Franklin said Ateed encouraged the performance of its senior executives through their employment contracts — a process which has a target of awarding 15 per cent of each senior executive’s remuneration via clear and mutually agreed performance measures.