It increased to $491,086, when it had been $483,652 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Details about remuneration and staffing were included in the council’s 2024-25 annual report, which is due to be adopted tomorrow by the new council during its first meeting.
Ms Graham’s remuneration for 2024-25 was made up of a base salary of $463,289 and employer KiwiSaver contributions of $27,797.
Remuneration for the executive leadership team increased from $2.47 million to more than $2.78m, the report said.
The council has since cut two leadership positions and reshuffled responsibilities within the senior team.
It also reduced its staffing levels in the 2024-25 year.
The number of fulltime employees reduced from 652 to 626.
Fulltime-equivalent "other" employees, who included part-time staff, fell from 209 to 205.
The reduction was mostly in staff employed in lower pay brackets, the report showed.
The number of employees receiving less than $60,000 dropped from 472 to 418.
For the next bracket — $60,000 to almost $80,000 — the number dropped from 206 to 196.
In the bracket of $80,000 to almost $100,000, the number shifted from 183 to 166.
However, in the next band — $100,000 to almost $120,000 — employee numbers increased from 141 to 165.
At the high end, but below Ms Graham, seven staff in 2024-25 were in a bracket of $240,000 to almost $300,000.
Remuneration was defined as the package for each staff member who remained employed on June 30 this year, including salary and annualised benefits, such as superannuation, carparks and any market allowance.
Overall, personnel expenses increased from about $83m in 2023-24 to about $85.2m in 2024-25.
Remuneration for the mayor and councillors was also listed in the report.
This reflected their pay until the end of June this year, which was before this month’s election.
Mayor at the time Jules Radich received remuneration of $178,756, which was up from $172,378 the previous year.
Deputy mayor Cherry Lucas received $110,986, which included consent hearing fees.
The lowest remuneration was for Cr David Benson-Pope ($77,358), which included consent hearing fees.
