Wellington incomes (2)

July 24th, 2008

Bad news for those who like the idea that we merit the highest paid Council management group in the country. Better news for those who were worried by Wellington City management seeming to cost 43% more than the next highest city’s management, as calclulated in my post on Tuesday, from Sunday Star Times figures.

Here’s the actual position from WCC Chief Executive Garry Poole:

"Thank you for your email and the opportunity to clarify the issue.

The information in the Sunday Star Times article was incorrect and the Council will be seeking a correction from the newspaper.

It appears that Larry Mitchell, who provided the analysis on which the article was based, has misinterpreted or misread the figures from our 2006/07 Annual Report.

On page 153 of our Annual Report it states that for the purposes of related party disclosures, key management includes "Directors (Councillors and the Mayor), the CEO and all members of the Management Board". That figure comes to $4.670m. However, it appears Mr Mitchell has incorrectly used this figure for the remuneration of only the Management Board. I have attached page 153 for your reference.

The remuneration paid to the Councillors was $1.431m; the Chief Executive $355,000; and Management Board $2.884m.

Please also note that the Council operates a flat management structure, comprising the CEO and Directors. Some local authorities operate more tiered management board structures and the figures provided may therefore only include the remuneration of the top tier. In the absence of details on the structure of the Management Board of each Council, direct comparisons are difficult.

As at 30 June 2007 Wellington City Council’s Management Board comprised the CEO and 14 Directors. In comparison Auckland City Council has a six-strong management team (including the CEO).

I am concerned by this misreporting which gives readers of the Sunday Star Times the wrong impression of remuneration of senior management at Wellington City Council.

We are not aware of Mr Mitchell nor the reporter who wrote the article, Garry Sheeran, contacting us for information or clarification prior to the article being published."

Filed under Wellington Central

Comments

As a lawyer and former MP one would think that you would have checked your facts before your first post on this subject. It’s a shame you fell for the usual uninformed media hype.

“Fell for” figures published in our major Sunday newspaper by one of the country’s top financial journalists? Then sent the conclusions to Garry Poole because they nevertheless seemed bizarre, and promptly published his explanation.

Jason – tell whoever drafted your silly comment for you that he’ll have to do better than that

“fell for” was exactly my point. As a lawyer and former MP you should be well aware of how the media gets things wrong. You fell for it. And, I came up with that all by myself.

Stephen – anyone can see that and I’m no body’s fool. I think your comments about people telling me what to say are insulting.

Thanks Stephen for raising this issue.
As a Rate Payer I was appalled to read how out of kilter Wellington Rate Payers are compared to other Districts.
We need more People like you keeping an eye on our Rates especially in an era where Councils seem to think they have the right to willy nilly raise Rates ahead of the rate of inflation.
Rate Payers don’t have unlimited funds.
The WCC Chief Executive Garry Poole appreciated you raising this giving him the opportunity to contact the Sunday News in order that they can correct the article with the correct figures.
As for Jason I think he should spend more time reading articles such as the Sunday Star Times and being more proactive rather than criticising .
I can only assume that he is not a Rate Payer payer.