Katie Chapman at The Dominion Post reports:
The Wellington City Council has cut 110 fulltime jobs since last year – while the number of managers in the top pay bands has gone up.
The council also paid the price for not making departing chief executive Garry Poole take his holidays, having to fork out $123,000 in unpaid leave when he left in March, on top of a $104,520 golden handshake.
This is never a good look, especially in the middle of an election, and when the organisation is reeling from a severe bout of confused restructuring and when morale is at an all time low. $104,520 is a nice earner for doing nothing but finishing your contract.
Figures in its annual report show that the number of fulltime employees at the council fell from 1020 to 910 in the past year, while the number of staff earning less than $60,000 fell from 1129 to 1030.
At the same time, the number of people earning more than $100,000 has risen from 147 to 155, and the number earning between $280,000 and $419,999 has doubled to four.
That includes chief executive Kevin Lavery, who started on a $400,000 contract in April.
The council is defending the figures, saying fewer top managers are now dealing with more responsibilities, and pay packets have to reflect that.
“The senior management team was restructured last year and reduced from eight to six members. New larger roles were created and . . . some of the salaries for the roles were set at over $280,000,” a spokesman said.
He would not say which members of the executive team were on the top pay packets.
The restructure was also reflected in the number of staff paid more than $100,000, many of whom were also doing “bigger roles”, he said.
Of course! “Bigger roles” created to pick up the slack of jobs once held by others, classic restructuring mumbo jumbo, quick, throw more money at it, the market dictates it!
I doubt people in those roles would cry poverty, or would drop like flies and quit if their pay-packet didn’t get a massive boost. And even if they did, with the job market as it is, the Council would have no trouble finding suitable qualified and capable staff.
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said councillors controlled the salary of the chief executive, but not of other staff. However, it could consider establishing a remuneration policy after the election if it wanted to.
“We have got to strike a careful balance between good, reliable staff to manage complex council matters, like our infrastructure, and providing good value for ratepayers.”
I’m surprised Council didn’t already have a remuneration policy. It seems like a no brainer.
The report shows Mr Poole’s lack of holidays over his 15-year stint at the council meant he walked away with a tidy sum. Based on his final salary of $419,231, his unpaid leave payment amounted to the equivalent of 15 weeks accrued holiday pay.
The council spokesman said Mr Poole was entitled to five weeks leave a year, but generally took only four.
“As an employer, we had accounted for that unpaid leave as a liability each year and paid it in full, as we are required to do by law.”
Ms Wade-Brown said that, in the wake of that payout, she had made it clear when Mr Lavery started that he would be expected to take his holidays.
“The whole point of having leave is for their refreshment during the year, not as a piggy bank,” she said.
You have to wonder where that attitude has been for the last 15 years, when many of the current councillors were around, either from the beginning, for a considerable period (Wade-Brown, Morrison, Ritchie, Pepperell, Ahipene-Mercer etc). Councillors should have been reading the financials each year and seeing liabilities like this growing and could have enacted relevant policy/solutions to curb it.
But now, only in the middle of a election are they making it look like they’re concerned about it and addressing it. Sharpen up.
WCC Watch 