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Christchurch City Council pay restraint must go further
The Taxpayers’ Union is backing a proposal by Christchurch City councillors to freeze the pay of chief executives and directors at council-owned companies, saying it is a positive step that should now be extended more broadly across the council.
Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Tory Relf said:
“This is a constructive start, and we commend councillors willing to show restraint at the top. The Council’s chief executive has already acknowledged the pressure on ratepayers by taking a pay cut herself, and that example of frugality should now be reflected more widely across the organisation.”
“Christchurch City Council still employs more than 1,000 staff earning over $100,000 a year, including 45 paid more than a backbench Member of Parliament. As households brace for another significant rates increase, it’s fair to question whether this level of senior pay is sustainable.”
“Ratepayers are being asked to tighten their belts. It’s only reasonable that the same discipline shown by the chief executive is applied throughout senior management.”
“This isn’t about targeting individuals, it’s about priorities. With rates continuing to rise, the Council must show it is managing costs responsibly and living within its means.”
Don't claw the cats
The Dunedin Mayor’s pitch to local councils in his campaign to be elected the new president of Local Government New Zealand is nuts.
Despite the vast majority of ratepayers considering the move silly, Dave Cull wants to use ratepayers’ money to lobby the government to force cat owners to register their cats.
The proposal would also see annual cat fees, cat curfews and even cat rangers to patrol the streets looking for cats off their designated property, or breaching curfew hours (yes really!).
This is the ultimate in the local government trying to find expensive solutions to a problem that doesn’t exist.
Earlier in the month, LGNZ released its latest performance survey showing record low levels of confidence in the decision making of local government. With the so-called ‘leaders’ of the sector too busy talking about cat rangers to focus on New Zealand’s enormous infrastructure deficit, no wonder local government is in crisis.