New council agrees to proposed pay scheme

Thursday, 31 October 2019

The newly elected Nelson City councillors were sworn in and then went straight to work confirming roles and pay.

The council's new pay has been decided after lengthy debate on the remuneration for councillor Brian McGurk's 'super-chair' role.

The debate focused on the fairness of the pay disparity between councillors on $44,900, chairs on $52,143, the deputy mayor Judene Edgar on $62,662, and McGurk's informally-named 'super-chair' role as chair of infrastructure, chair of regional transport, deputy chair of environment and Nelson Plan lead also on $62,662.

Councillor Kate Fulton highlighted the new steps of disparity, as under the last triennium there were different pay levels for councillors and deputy chairs, while under the new payment plan deputy chairs earned the same as councillors.

She proposed a different option, which would see Edgar's remuneration stay at $62,662, McGurk's drop to $57,406, chairs' go up to $52,669, and councillors go up to $45,426.

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Councillor Tim Skinner agreed, saying that Fulton's suggested option was 'staggered well'.

Councillor Mel Courtney said that none of the options presented 'passed the fairness test' for him, because none had deputy chairs paid more than regular councillors.

'Not remunerating the deputy chairs is not good … You don't give someone extra title and responsibility and not pay them.'

The new council has passed its first hurdle, confirming roles and remuneration for the newly confirmed councillors.

However, councillor Rohan O'Neill-Stevens said that thanks to the rearrangement of the committees to become committees of the whole, every councillor would to some degree be doing the work of a deputy chair.

Councillor Pete Rainey said the differences between the original proposition and the new one were 'minuscule' when divided out over the year and after tax.

He said he believed that the change had been proposed 'fundamentally … to make a point' rather than due to the amount of work the 'super-chair' role would involve compared to other chairs or councillors.

Councillor Gaile Noonan said it was difficult to make a decision when it was not yet clear how much work would be involved in each role.

'We're trying to determine salaries or payment when we don't know what the roles are.'

Councillor Matt Lawrey said the original suggestion 'seemed fairest'.

'That role, chair of regional transport, chair of infrastructure, deputy of environment, is a big workload. I strongly feel that that position should be rewarded. I think putting that at the same level as deputy mayor is appropriate, and when I look at [the other option] that's the difference.

'We should seek to raise people's remuneration where we can.'

Mayor Rachel Reese, Edgar, and Courtney all abstained from the vote. The initial proposition was voted in six to three.