New salaries proposed for new Nelson city council
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
The induction of the new Nelson City Council means settling on new salaries for the incoming councillors.
The new council will have its first meeting on Thursday, confirming the proposed chair and deputy mayor delegations and setting up the oncoming council with its code of conduct and setting out the newcomers' responsibilities.
The councillors will also have to confirm the proposed salaries for all the different roles of the councillors.
Mayor Rachel Reese's salary, which is set by the Remuneration Authority, leads the pack at $144,500, going up from last year's $137,863.
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The proposed salary for the deputy mayor is $62,662, an increase of $989 on departing deputy Paul Matheson's $61,673 salary last year.
Most committee chairs will get just over $2000 more than their predecessors, with the proposed salary of $52,143 compared to last year's $49,750.
However Brian McGurk, as chair of infrastructure, regional transport, and deputy of environment is looking at a step up with a proposed salary of $62,663, equal to the deputy mayor's salary.
Deputy chairs and councillors are looking at a salary of $44,900, a break from last year's remuneration policy which had councillors and deputy chairs on different salaries, $41,115 and $43,171 respectively.
The salaries are divided out from the allocated pool of $603,300 per year set out by the Remuneration Authority.
Though the authority sets the total pool, and maintains a minimum salary of $39,686, the remuneration for each role on council must be agreed on by the councillors.
All proposed salaries except the mayor's will be confirmed at the new council's first meeting on Thursday.