‘Club fees paid to boost salaries’

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 6

‘Club fees paid to boost salaries’

PA Wellington Local authorities have been deliberately subverting higher-salaries regulations by using their funds to pro-i .de subscriptions to clubs: and other activities for officers in their employment; with salary ceilings, the! Deputy Leader of the Opposition, (Mr Tizard) has ai-j ieged in Parliament. Speaking during the' second-reading debate on the Higher Salaries Commission Bill, Mr Tizard said he based] ris charge on the assertion of a local authority chair-1 •nan who said his pre- ! decessor had been advised by the commission that the authority should use subscriptions instead of giv-i ing salarv or other allow-: ances to the officers. In this way, the authority,] 'ould maintain the relat-| ivity between top execu-i fives and those immediately! below them. Mr Tizard said that when] he investigated the accusa-; t on he found that only one' of five cases of which he'

i had knowledge had any rela-i ]tion to the authority's work. Il si It would be quite reason- ; able for the general manager 11 [of an authority to be a! member of the credit man’s' ■(club or association because '■the authority was a trading]: r body and social contacts {< ; with business associates |i ' were valuable, he said. “But when it came to thel< 'general manager joining aj •golf club, I thought that was ! la little wide of the mark.” i ' Mr Tizard said he did not i believe that any member of i 11 the Higher Salaries Commis- I , sion would make the ; statement attributed by the I local-body chairman. But he I I said he could believe that • some people who would try 1 jto get round the regulations might well do so. i Any member of a local |i authority must be concerned! about relativity between top ! I executives and those im- 1 mediately below them, he 1 'said. Just as in the Public i I Service it was traditional to i (have a margin between the < senior officer and his dep- I • uty, so it was reasonable i 'that there should be a i

I similar margin in local (bodies and commissions, . Mr Tizard asked how the 'Government intended to ; police the provisions of the bill, which gives the Higher Salaries Commission : statutory provisions to (determine the salaries of 'members of Parliament and I local-body and university I officers, in place of the • regulations. He said he had a feeling that the same sort of deliberate subversion could be made in future under the bill. He could see no provision for a phasing-in of the bill, but if the salary of the person at the top was to be limited, then the same limitations, over a period, had to apply to those with whom he had relativitiy. The Minister of State Services (Mr Gordon) said he would be surprised if any local authorities were conducting the activities described by Mr Tizard. However, if a case were brought to his notice, he would ask the Auditor-General to investigate.