Whangarei District Councillors Stand Firm in Rejecting Pay Increase

Whangarei District Councillors voted today to reject a demand from the Remuneration Authority that they accept a pay rise.

Mayor Stan Semenoff, who has done without a mayoral car throughout this council term, and the councillors last year refused to take an increase recommended by the authority, saying it was not appropriate in a recession to accept a pay rise.

Council staff salaries were also held last year, as staff accepted the need to show restraint to keep council costs down.

The authority agreed to councillors turning down last year's increase, but wrote to Council late last year saying it "now requires you to recommend allocation of the full amount of the pool" from July 1 this year until election day, October 9.

Authority chair Michael Wintringham ordered a 7.2 percent pay increase for councillors, and a 5 percent increase in Mr Semenoff's salary.

At today's Whangarei District Council meeting, however, Mr Semenoff and councillors were unanimous that they should be allowed to refuse the increase.

Cr Phil Halse said it was wrong to order an increase well above the CPI in an election year when employers were struggling to pay wages and keep good staff, and the economy was struggling.

"In Northland alone $100 million in the rural sector is not coming into the community because of the drought.

"We'd be seen as great, big, fat, greedy pigs if we took this increase. We need to let our ratepayers know that we have sympathy for them, and we need to ask the authority to reconsider and not impose these increases," Cr Halse said.

Cr Sue Glen said the situation was one where "a higher power is forcing us to have our snouts in the trough. They want us to take more money when other people are ailing and failing. It's not fair."

Cr Alan Goodhew felt the authority's stance was proof that common sense no longer had a place in the world.

Cr Sheryl Mai said while she supported turning down the increase, she felt a councillor's salary of $41,000 was not enough to attract younger people to stand and so council might not represent the community.

Mr Semenoff said councillors were doing a lot of good work and probably deserved an increase, but it was not appropriate in a recession. He had not taken a mayoral vehicle and had not used his mayoral credit card in order not to put a burden on the ratepayers.

Cr Halse said he was in his sixth term as a councillor and the authority had just recommended during a recession its highest increase in that time. He termed it ridiculous.

The council voted unanimously to back Cr Halse's motion that it considered the increase contrary to the best interests of the community, and requested the Remuneration Authority to allow it to decline the increase