Pay rise makes Chch councillors unhappy

Christchurch city councillors have decided not to increase community board salaries, giving themselves an 11 per cent pay increase instead.

But councillors have hit out at the Remuneration Authority for putting them in the position of determining their salaries in the first place. At a council meeting yesterday, councillor James Daniels said it was important ratepayers knew the council was forced into making the decision.

Councillors will now get

$114,130, up from $102,400 last term. Deputy mayor Andrew Turner will receive $131,250, up from $118,220.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel’s salary of $195,000 has already been decided by the authority and has increased just under 1 per cent from $193,099 to the year ended June 2019. Dalziel said no-one was happy about having the matter brought before the council.

The authority has allocated the council $1.8 million to spend on the salaries of the deputy mayor and 15 councillors between October 20 and June 30,

2020, but exactly how that money was divided was up to the councillors. The authority states the council must spend all of its $1.8m allocation and councillors have to be paid at least $97,280.

In approving the pay rise, the council decided to tell the authority it did not support councillors making decisions on their own remuneration. Councillors Yani Johanson and Melanie

Banks Peninsula Community Board chairwoman Tori Peden wants the Remuneration Authority to change how it calculates board members’ pay.

Coker voted against the pay rise and Jake McLellan abstained.

The council could have topped up community board salaries but chose not to because many councillors believed community board members were already fairly paid, with the exception of Banks Peninsula. But under authority rules the council was not able to increase the salary of one board, it would have to boost all board member salaries, which would only grow the gap between the city boards and Banks Peninsula.

Community board salaries have already been determined by the authority based on the population they serve but the council and the Banks Peninsula board have decided to tell the authority they do not support the population-based funding formula for setting community board salaries. Turner said the work of community board members was

driven by the environment and infrastructure and by the distance people had to drive to attend meetings. The Banks Peninsula area stretched from Akaroa to Lyttelton.

Banks Peninsula board chairwoman Tori Peden said she understood why the council decided not to give community board members additional pay as it would only exacerbate the pay difference. But the board wanted the authority to take into account not only population but also geography, tourism and social deprivation.

Peden said in September she was paid $6 an hour to represent her community, working about 20 hours a week for her pre-tax salary of $9864.

Peden now receives double this ($19,726) as board chairwoman but city board chairs get between $46,595 and $49,160.