Taranaki Daily News

Divvying up the spoils

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It’s always amusing to observe what goes on within council when it comes to divvying up the spoils of the Remunerati­on Authority decision on their remunerati­on pool.

There is the usual hand wringing about how the total amount is out of their hands. They then complain that it’s all a bit unseemly to have to decide who should get what, and how much better it would be if central government could just decide for them.

(No sense of irony here, when at the same time they complain that decision-making is too centralise­d with central government). To underscore what really matters to them, those who are in it for the money squabble about how they need to get a bigger slice of the pool for themselves.

But here is the thing. The monetary pool is decided by a weighted size index. Fifty per cent is decided on district population, 15% by the size of the assets, 20% by the size of the council budget, and 15% by the level of deprivatio­n in the community.

So, the more money they spend on projects, the bigger they grow the organisati­on, and the poorer they make people in the district, the more the mayor and councillor­s get paid (provided that they do this faster than everyone else).

It seems to be working, four years ago we were the 11th largest Territoria­l Authority in the country. This time we’re ranked 10th. I’m sure the 9% pay rise they just received is deserved, and it must be a relief to know that competence isn’t a determinin­g factor for setting your salary.

Len Houwers, New Plymouth

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