Role of Higher Salariss Commission questioned

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 11

Role of Higher Salariss Commission questioned

PA Hamilton The president of the Municipal Association, Mr Ross Jansen, wants the Government to investigate the usefulness of the Higher Salaries Commission, especially when it comes to setting pay and allowance rates for New Zealand’s larger local bodies.

Mr Jansen, who is also Mayor of Hamilton, wants local bodies to be given the power to make their own decisions on salaries and- allowances — whether for elected representatives or top officials. Mr Jansen strongly questioned the commission’s role in the new climate of self-deter-mination being fostered by the Government and in the light of proposals to prune local body legislation in favour of more liberal laws.

Speaking at a meeeting of the Hamilton City Council’s management committee, he said that the commission had been brought into being partly through fears that public sector salaries were leading the private sector, and partly because it was embarrassing for politicians to fix their own salaries. With corporatisation,

however, State-owned enterprises would be involved in “head-hunting,” paying “substantial” amounts of money to get the people they wanted — to do jobs previously done by Government departments.

“Is there a need for the Higher Salaries Commission to continue? If so, in what climate?” Mr Jansen said the commission did little of its own work in any case. To fix rates for large local bodies, it worked from Joint Council for Local Authority Services recommendations, which in turn were based on studies by consultants — which, in the last 12 months, had been handed to a second consultancy firm for double-checking. Now the commission had been tied by legislation dictating that Parliamentarians and top public servants had to receive increases no greater than 10 per cent. “Do we need a Higher Salaries Commission, particularly as the Government has now put a freeze on the top jobs?

“I come to the conclusion that local Government, as a sector of the public sector, can do it

every bit as well,” Mr Jansen . The committee — discussing a territorial local Government , council paper on remuneration for elected members — decided the council should seek exemption from legislation requiring the commission to set its maximum rates of payment for the Mayor, councillors, and top executives. It will recommend this at next week’s council meeting, along with suggested allowances for elected representatives, and with a clause questioning the value of the Higher Salaries Commission. If adopted by the council, the recommendations will go to the territorial council, and will be taken by Mr Jansen to the Municipal Association’s conference this month. The committee wants councillors to be paid a percentage of the chief executive’s salary (in Hamilton, $63,000). The Mayor would receive up to 101 per cent, the Deputy Mayor and comittee chairmen 25 to 70 per cent, and councillors 20 per cent, with special provision for expenses or a tax-free allowance.