Wellington Water Pay Blowouts While Households Face Soaring Bills

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming pay increases for Wellington’s new water entity leadership, including board pay reportedly doubling, as households face water bills are set to be introduced.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley, said:

“Wellington households are being told to brace for water bills heading toward $7,000, yet the new Tiaki Wai is dishing out inflated salaries for board members and $645,000 for it's Chief Executive, $134,700 more than the Prime Minister."

“Rates have already increased by 47 percent last term for Wellingtonians, making them some of the most unaffordable in the country. At a time officials need to start tightening their own belts, costs look set to keep blowing out.”

"What makes this worse is that these decisions were made through a murky ‘partnership’ arrangement involving councils and iwi, with the pay rises justified on the basis of matching other council-controlled organisations. Since when is a nearly $650,000, ratepayer-funded salary something that needs to be protected in the name of ‘parity’?

“Before asking households to pay more for an already broken service, Wellington’s water bosses need to justify why executive pay is rising while affordability for ordinary ratepayers is going backwards.”