ECan boss got a 9.3% pay rise

Thursday, 21 August 2025

Dr Stefanie Rixecker’s (pictured) pay rise was “appropriate and deserved”, ECan chairperson Craig Pauling says.

One person got a pay raise that is much better than inflation - the chief executive of Environment Canterbury.

Dr Stefanie Rixecker got a 9.3% pay raise last financial year, taking her remuneration to $479,206 - $40,790 higher than the year before.

The pay rise was “both appropriate and deserved”, ECan’s outgoing chairperson, Craig Pauling, said.

Pauling and Rixecker at a ECan meeting last October.

“It is important to our council that we have a high-performing and respected chief executive at the helm, including during this significant time of change for local government,” he said.

The boss’ pay sits initially with ECan’s Chief Executive, Employment, Performance and Remuneration Committee, which relies on factors such as independent advice, performance and market value to determine Rixecker’s pay.

The full council makes the final call.

“Regional government is operating in an increasingly complex and political environment,” Pauling said.

“With that comes increasing demand on our chief executive to lead through this time and to represent the council and staff at both a regional and national level.”

Toni Severin, a former ACT Party list MP and a candidate for an ECan seat in the coming election, called the 9.3% increase “quite high”.

She is running for local government on an explicitly party ticket, called ACT Local.

Toni Severin delivers her maiden speech in Parliament in 2021. The ACT list MP did not return to parliament after the last election and is now running for ECan on an ACT ticket.

“When you have a look at average businesses today, they can't even probably give their staff a 1% increase because they're all struggling,” she said.

Rixecker is the highest paid chief executive of a regional council, according to data collected by the Taxpayers’ Union.

She is about $23,000 ahead of the second highest paid, Nigel Corry of Greater Wellington Regional Council.

The lowest paid chief of a regional council was Darryl Lew on the West Coast, who earned $247,620.

There are 11 regional councils, a local government category that does not include unitary authorities such as Auckland and top of the south.

Canterbury had the largest population, with 687,1000 people according to data collected by Internal Affairs. Wellington was next, with 541,500.

Canterbury also had the most personnel, with 822 full-time equivalents in fiscal 2024. Wellington had 762.

Rixecker has a PhD in political science from Purdue University in Indiana, south of Chicago.

She held senior roles at Lincoln University before joining ECan as director of science in 2016. She was appointed chief executive in 2020.