Councilors turn down pay rise

Members of Parliament may be getting a pay rise but North Shore City councilors have turned down the chance to boost their own salaries.

At their strategy and finance committee (November 11), councilors considered a report from the Remuneration Authority (formerly known as the Higher Salaries Commission) discussing how politicians get paid from mid-2004 on.

Councilors supported committee chairperson Tony Holman's recommendation that they continue with the same system on which they were elected two years ago, effectively blocking a pay rise for the period from July until next October's local body elections.

"We were voted in on one system and it's not on to change it before our term's over, particularly if we were to financially benefit from it," Councilor Holman says.

"We'll leave it to the Remuneration Authority to set the system to apply from next October and it's over to the community to elect those people whom they want to serve them for the following three years," he adds.

© Scoop Media