Councillors decide not to raise directors’ pay
The Invercargill City Council chief executive says an overhaul of a problematic policy is on the cards after it yet again came back to the council with potential issues.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, councillors, although many of them had to abstain from voting, decided not to give directors of council-controlled organisations a 1.5 per cent pay rise.
The Appointment and Remuneration of Directors Policy had been left on the table from the council’s September 18 meeting.
Councillor Ian Pottinger had raised concerns about wording in the policy, which said there ‘‘will be’’ an increase not there ‘‘may be’’, which could lead to directors automatically being given a pay rise annually.
On Tuesday, the policy was received and adopted with a proposed amendment before Pottinger moved that the council did not approve the pay rise. He was able to do this under the Local Government Act section 80 – identification of inconsistent decisions.
Pottinger said ‘‘the policy itself is inconsistent.’’
He believed the council should not approve the pay rise because it was treated differently in two parts of the policy and it was inconsistent with what the policy directs.
After the meeting, chief executive Clare Hadley said staff would review the policy next year.
Hadley said she was concerned with the amount of times the policy was being brought to the council for minor changes and it needed to be reviewed.
At the September meeting, less than a month after the council had already amended the policy, councillors were asked to adopt the policy again with another amendment after it was found the policy had inadvertently required council approval for the appointment of directors to subsidiaries of Electricity Invercargill Limited.
The revised policy, adopted yesterday, excluded that ‘‘unintended effect’’.
The decision not to give a pay rise was then passed without objection after councillors Darren Ludlow, Lindsay Thomas, Graham Lewis, Karen Arnold and Mayor Tim Shadbolt declared an interest and abstained from voting.
The policy still provides that in the years which director’s fees are not reviewed by an external remuneration firm, which was every three years, they would be given an increase in accordance with the June annual CPI.
In the past, it had to be put to the council, as the main shareholder of Invercargill City Holdings, whether there would be an increase.