Ongoing cost of scandal the main reason Mayor won’t reject pay increase

The main reason Auckland Mayor Len Brown won’t reject his latest pay rise is because he remains angry his fortnightly pay continues to get docked thanks to his past indiscretions, says Auckland Councillor for Orakei, Cameron Brewer.

Mr Brewer says following the $250,000 EY report into Mr Brown, it was agreed 18 months ago that $40,000 would be paid back by Mr Brown and it would be directly taken out of his salary on a fortnightly basis for the remainder of this term.

“Rest assured he’s very unhappy his pay is being docked every fortnight. He thinks he has been penalised enough and so is in no rush to turn down the latest pay increase by the Remuneration Authority. That’s the real reason and sadly for Auckland it once again all leads back to one festering issue that continues to drag the council and city down.”

Mr Brewer calls on the Mayor to stop thinking about his own back-pocket and focus on the ratepayers’ plight.

"I call on the Mayor to put his self-interest to one side and take the lead on this one. He holds the majority and he now needs to lead the charge and push to reject this latest announcement.

"This latest round of pay increases for the Mayor and councillors is extremely bad taste. I urged Parliament to include us when they changed the law a while back to stop the MPs pay rises, but that apparently went beyond their call.

"Inflation's running at pretty much zero and this is miles higher than inflation. So what's the justification. There is none.

"To think at the same time we're asking little old ladies to dig deeper into their pension to find 9.9% more for their rates. What’s more alarming is we’re now seeing finance companies targeting the elderly with TV adverts to enable them pay their rates with huge added interest, yet the Mayor and councillors are given a mid-winter bonus!

“It’s sick and it’s not helped by the fact that some councillors now crying crocodile tears are the same ones who ramped up rates last month. The public will see right through that.

"I've been a staunch advocate against big pay increases and fat cat salaries. And this latest news is unfortunately both," says Mr Brewer.

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