The council released a statement yesterday saying following an annual performance review process completed by the council’s chief executive performance review committee, councillors approved the increase.
He would receive a yearly pay of $479,486 per annum.
The statement from the council did not show his pay packet for the past 12 months but records last year showed it to be $415,321.
Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers acknowledged the capable and strong leadership Mr Theelen had demonstrated throughout his tenure and in particular through this last year.
"Rapidly changing government priorities, major capital investment needs, maintaining high-quality levels of service to the community and responding to the myriad needs of significant and sustained growth in the district is a relentless challenge."
Mr Lewers listed council achievements, including delivering 88% of the capital programme; completing 94% of consents with statutory requirements and maintaining council’s AA- credit rating as a tribute to Mr Theelen’s hard work.
"Mike has developed a positive workplace culture with highly engaged staff committed to serving the community they’re a part of. The strong relationships he has built means QLDC is at the forefront of sector changes and able to help shape as well as respond to them."
The position was benchmarked with local government market data during this review process as the position had not been assessed since 2019, noting the last review was due in 2021 and agreed to be paused due to the Covid-19 response.
The council decided last week the average rate rise for the Queenstown Lakes district would be 15.8% this year.
Mr Theelen joined the council as chief executive in February 2016 and was reappointed for a further five years in November 2020, effective from February 2021.
