Auckland Council: Who got the $80,000 bonus and pay rise?
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has been blindsided in the last week of the election campaign by news the unelected board of a council-controlled organisation has given its chief executive a bonus and pay rise worth $80,000.Goff was not impressed when told the salary and bonus package for Panuku chief executive Roger MacDonald had shot up from about $565,000 to about $645,000 in the past year. What's more, the salaries and benefits of the leadership team at Panuku have risen by 22 per cent in the past year, from $2.7 million to $3.3m. MacDonald is now the second highest paid CCO chief executive, behind Watercare chief executive Raveen Jaduram, whose salary is about $775,000. His salary package rose $50,000 this year. Jaduram is the top earner in the council family, earning more than council chief executive Stephen Town, whose salary rose by 1 per cent to $698,000 this year. MacDonald's 14 per cent salary and bonus increase follows calls by Goff for CCOs to show financial restraint on salaries at the top level. The mayor's calls were heeded by the board of Auckland Transport when it appointed new chief executive Shane Ellison in 2017 on a salary of $575,000 - a $100,000 cut from the salary of former chief executive David Warburton. Ateed chief executive Nick Hill has received a pay rise of about $10,000 to take his salary to about $425,000. Regional Facilities Auckland chief executive Chris Brooks received a 2.5 per cent pay rise this year, taking his salary to $480,975. Executive team staff costs at RFA rose by 30 per cent from $2.3m to $3.1m last year. All up, ratepayers paid $25m for the salaries of executives at Auckland Council and the five CCOs last year. Speaking after a MYOB mayoral debate, Goff carefully chose his words to criticise the Panuku decision.
"I think that any salary of that dimension is a handsome salary and you need to demonstrate you are delivering the results to achieve that salary. "They [Panuku board] need to exercise constraint on salaries at that level." In a statement, Panuku chairwoman Adrienne Young-Cooper said much of the extra money paid to MacDonald came from an incentive scheme and the rest from a 2 per cent pay rise. She said the Panuku board established a performance-based reward scheme for staff based on achievement of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Last year, the average payment was 10 per cent of salary with MacDonald receiving a full year's payment, she said.
MacDonald has been in the news recently over a private helicopter trip to the Bay of Islands for a day of sailing on a superyacht, which was picked up by the Serious Fraud Office in an investigation over the sale of council's Civic Administration Building. The SFO cleared Panuku of any wrongdoing over the sale but raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest involving MacDonald's trip - signed off by the former Panuku board chair Richard Aitkin - saying "its acceptance was ill-advised". Young-Cooper said performance-based payments are standard industry practice for senior executives. The board reviewed the scheme in June this year and agreed to maintain it for another year to remain competitive with the market, she said. Following a furore over rising salaries and a $405,000 severance payment in 2017, Town said in a letter to Goff that council salaries do not include variable pay components such as bonuses or incentives, which are common in the private sector and some public sector entities. Australian banks and their New Zealand offshoots are overhauling executive bonuses following a royal commission investigation into misconduct in Australia's financial industry. Goff has promised a review of CCOs if he wins a second term, saying one of the focal points will be responsiveness and accountability. "I share the frustrations of Aucklanders with some aspects of CCO performance and delivery, and concerns about whether they can be held accountable," Goff said at the launch of his CCO policy in May.
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Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
Poll: Should the government levy industries that contribute to financial hardship?
As reported in the Post, there’s a $30 million funding gap in financial mentoring. This has led to services closing and mentors stepping in unpaid just to keep helping people in need 🪙💰🪙
One proposed solution? Small levies on industries that profit from financial hardship — like banks, casinos, and similar companies.
So we want to hear what you think:
Should the government ask these industries to contribute?
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58.9% Yes, supporting people is important!
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26.4% No, individuals should take responsibility
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14.7% ... It is complicated
A Neighbourly Riddle! Don’t Overthink It… Or Do?😜
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?
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