The Otago Regional Council has released its annual report and new political grouping Vision Otago — a group seeking to reform the Otago Regional Council — has sent out a statement.
It said the latest annual staff numbers and remuneration packages for the council were "way out of step with both the Otago private sector and the pockets and affordability of Otago ratepayers".
Councillor Michael Laws said council staff salary rises of 5% in 2023-24 and 4.5% in 2024-25 had had the greatest effect.
"Despite our private sector and ratepayers being under the pump, the number of council staff earning $100,000-plus has jumped from 148 to 194 — a 31% increase in the past year alone," he said in a statement.
"The local government sector moans about having costs imposed upon it, but it never admits that staff salary increases — 9.5% over the past two years at the ORC — is a good part of the equation."
He said to put some perspective into the council increase, the average private sector wage/salary rise to the year ended March 2025 was 2.6%.
Cr Laws said he was "even more surprised that staff numbers were up despite the council saying it recognised the community’s rates burden and central government was halting planning work".
Council chief executive Richard Saunders acknowledged staff costs made up a significant portion of the council’s budget.
Increases in staff numbers have occurred over the last three to five years in response to external reviews of the council’s delivery and direction to deliver more across a range of functions.
"Council budgets including staff costs are approved each year through the annual or long-term plan process. Budgets reflect the resources required to deliver the work programme agreed to by council."
"The largest effect on rates in the 2024-25 year was the change in financial strategy to ensure public transport costs were fully funded in the year they occurred along with additional public transport rates to repay historic deficits," he said.
Staff salary ranges were set through a commonly used job evaluation tool, SP10, which determined a suitable salary range for a given position based on a number of factors and ensured council roles were consistent with similar positions in the market.
"Over time with increases to the salary bands within SP10 we would expect the number of roles earning over $100k to increase," he said.
The council operated within the salary budget it set.
"The salaries paid to staff reflect the expectations placed on those positions. The salaries set through SP10 reflect the remuneration required to recruit and retain staff with the skills and experience required for those roles."
Otago Regional Council rates were set to rise by 5.5% in the coming year.
