Media release

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Council staff earning over $100,000 up 20%

Auckland Councillor for Orakei Cameron Brewer says it’s totally out of whack that the number of Auckland Council staff (including the CCOs) earning more than $100,000 has increased by 20.4% in the past 12 months to 1,510 people at 30 June 2013 up from 1,254 one year earlier according to Auckland Council’s just published 2012/13 Annual Report*.

"We've now got to a point where the Auckland Town Hall’s own massive auditorium is not big enough to fit the 1,510 staff earning over a $100,000 if you ever wanted a team meeting for middle and senior management. Another 256 staff earning more than $100,000 in just 12 months will go down like a cup of cold sick among our stretched suburban ratepayers,” says Mr Brewer.

The latest Annual Report also reveals that the total number of council staff earning over $200,000 is up another 15 people, now at 113.

While the total number of council employees is up 459 from 10,157 to 10,616 in the past 12 months – outpacing overall increases in rates income.

“Mayor Len Brown has failed to deliver on one of the big amalgamation promises and that was to do more stuff with less staff. These latest numbers make worrying reading for ratepayers who were promised by the Auckland Transition Agency less staff across the region, not more.”

The total annual wage and salary bill hit $693m in 2012/13 up from $655m on the previous financial year. It the current 13/14 year the staff bill will exceed $700m.

“Despite all these skyward numbers, last month a majority of councillors voted for the CEO to provide a report to the incoming council on the prospect of adopting a living wage – a policy that is now estimated to cost the council at least another $3.75m each year.

"The Mayor needs to get the fat salaries under control first and foremost before he puts his hand out for even more money from the poor old suburban ratepayers. Our wage bill is growing significantly every year and it’s now at $702m for 10,616 staff. Let's focus on managing that before even digging even a bigger hole for ratepayers to fill".

Mr Brewer says an amendment from him last month, which a majority of councillors supported, goes someway to protecting their pockets and council services.

The Brewer/Quax amendment read: ‘That any further work on the living wage be done on the proviso that any extra money required be found within the current wage and salary staff budget (approximately $700m) of the Auckland Council Group, not funded by a further rates increase or reduction in existing council services.’

"The Mayor seems happy to blindly accept the council and CCOs’ payroll escalations Three years on and it’s blindingly obvious that the Mayor has failed to take advantage of the one-off economic opportunities the amalgamation presented. What's more, all these numbers do not take into account the many consultants and contractors on the council's books. It's going to be hard for a new council to dial all this back.”

Mr Brewer warns that Len Brown is also maxing out the council credit card by now borrowing over $3m a day. The council’s group debt will reach $6.7 billion at the end of this financial year - nearly double the debt the council started with on 1 November 2010, with revised forecasts predicting it to double again within the coming decade.

In last week’s final full council meeting of the term approving the 2012/13 Annual Report, Mr Brewer successfully had his amendment included ‘That the Governing Body request that the budgeted increase in total borrowings accumulated during the financial year to 30 June 2013 be fully explained and accounted for at an upcoming Accountability & Performance (or appropriate) Committee meeting.’

“It will again be interesting to see what ‘bits and bobs’ the Mayor has spent the debt on in the past 12 months. It’s time this council got a lot more financially prudent, strategic and focused,” says Cameron Brewer.

Source: 2012/13 Auckland Council Annual Report - Volume 3, pages 18 and 67.

Ends

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