Pay rise? No thanks

Relevant offers

Politics

Shake-up heading in EQC's direction Will bill make food safer or be a form of control? Brownlee turns up heat on council over rebuild Agency mulled to run emergency 111 system MPs' travel bills leap during election Remedial work for navy's problem ship Wait for new oil law before awarding permits, Govt urged TVNZ included in police Electoral Act investigation Sea law 'an environmental risk' Govt defends 50c an hour minimum wage lift

Some mayors and councillors are fighting to reject a pay rise, but say they may be forced to give it to charity if they are unsuccessful.

The Remuneration Authority has granted an average 3 per cent rise to mayors and councillors from July, funded through rates. It follows a 4.8 per cent pay rise for judges and between 3.8 per cent and 4.8 per cent for MPs.

Prime Minister John Key has called on the authority to show restraint in setting salaries of MPs, judges and local government politicians, and wants it to freeze MPs' pay at the next pay review.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast wants to refuse her July pay rise and said she would give it to charity if that failed.

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws called the pay rises "morally wrong" and slammed the authority's "refusal to accept that when officials say that they don't want increases, they still get given increases nonetheless".

Two councils have written to the authority asking if they could reject their rises after public scrutiny of officials' pay packets.

The authority has said the increase is conservative and urged councils to accept the salaries, but said if all elected members unanimously rejected the money, it would consider submissions.

Chairman David Oughton wrote to councils, saying a pay freeze this year could necessitate a larger, publicly unpalatable pay rise in 2010. He noted the independent authority existed to remove political pressure from those whose salaries it decided.

The average pay rise for local government politicians, announced in December, has been set at 3 per cent from July 1, 2009, varying across the country based on population and annual accounts Wellington receiving a 5.5 per cent increase for its pool, Wanganui receiving 1.1 per cent.

Mr Key wrote to Mr Oughton last week after the local government salaries were set urging him to exercise restraint in setting all salaries under its jurisdiction.

But the authority is bound by criteria, set out in law, to maintain relativity with pay rises elsewhere and to be fair to both the person being paid and to the ratepayer.

Earlier Mr Oughton told The Dominion Post it was time politicians reviewed those criteria. "If, for instance, the politicians felt that the economic circumstances of the country had to be taken into account, they probably should put it in the legislation."

Labour leader Phil Goff agreed the best way to ensure restraint was to change the law to make the state of the economy a specific criterion.

But a spokesman for Mr Key said last night that Mr Key believed a pay freeze was possible under current law. National will ask for a freeze on MPs' pay at the next pay review.

- © Fairfax NZ News