This interest is even more serious for those who receive these payments.
To try to avoid allegations of a self-interested lolly scramble, the amounts each council can pay are determined by the Remuneration Authority (RA).
The RA determines the amount paid to the mayors and chairs of local and regional authorities. It also determines a total pool for what each council can pay to the councillors. It decides what the jobs entail and what sort of pay is appropriate. It asks councillors how hard they work and then comes up with rates based on that work. It sets a minimum amount for each councillor.
The Dunedin City Council (DCC) is considered a large metro council and a councillor is considered "likely to work up to full time". Out of the total pool, councils can make a proposal to the RA including amounts for each councillor with an explanation of the the areas of responsibility.
The RA then confirms the proposal, or in rare cases can change it or send it back for reconsideration.
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) in 2019 decided to give councillors all co-chair roles, and to pay them all the same. The intention was to spread the work and the money evenly.
The DCC in the past has paid the chairs of committees a higher amount, but not deputy chairs.
This triennium Mayor Jules Radich proposed a seven-committee structure with everyone offered a chair or deputy chair position.
Crs David Benson-Pope and Steve Walker refused the deputy chair positions offered, which they could have assumed gave them no additional pay.
When the full proposal came to the council with new payments proposed, the structure had deputy chairs at $80,442 and Crs Benson-Pope and Walker receiving $64,353.
When this was sent to the RA it was returned for reassessment. Now payments are $90,979 for chairs, $77,982 for deputy chairs and $72,783 for councillors.
Cr Benson-Pope said he was delighted the excess was reined in and that the original proposal was designed to buy political support. He also said "I have sympathy for newer members, for not knowing the minuscule workload and the elegant title of deputy chair of anything. It is never about the money — this is about principle".
In the case of the chair of the hearings committee, there is some control of who is allocated to various hearing panels.
Councillors with the requisite training and qualification can be on hearings panels. This work is extra pay for councillors.
Mostly it is the chair of the hearings committee who has had the delegation to choose who is allocated to these panels, including him or herself. Sometimes, including the second-generation plan process for the DCC and licensing hearing work, it is the council as a whole which chooses. The extra payments can be significant.
By way of example only, Cr Benson-Pope received much more than the basic councillor of recent times:
- 2017-18 Cr Benson-Pope $139,300, basic councillor pay $56,200.
- 2018-19 Cr Benson-Pope $75,600, basic councillor pay $59,400.
- 2019-20 Cr Benson-Pope $84,000, basic councillor pay $68,600.
- 2020-21 Cr Benson-Pope $103,100, basic councillor pay $71,500.
This is not to say that others did not receive significantly more than the basic pay the RA mandated from time to time. Nor is it to say that there were not significantly greater workloads associated with these payments.
However, it is certainly the case that being chair of a council committee, chair of the hearings panel or a favoured panel member, or a district licensing commissioner all have financial benefits.
The ORC shows historically the same opportunities available and taken for extra work and pay. Perhaps the ORC made a wise decision when it decided councillors should not sit on its own hearing panels at the start of the 2019-22 triennium.
- Hilary Calvert is a former Otago regional councillor, MP and DCC councillor.
