West Coast regional councillors getting a hefty pay rise - whether they want it or not.
The West Coast Regional Council. Photo: Google Maps
The new rates set by the Remuneration Authority mean a councillor's pay goes up from $36,000 a year before the election, to $51,000.
The Authority has decreed the chairman must be paid $83,000 and a pool of $317,737 must be allocated to the other six positions.
By law there is no option to take less, the only decision left for councillors to make on the subject at yesterday's meeting was how much to pay the deputy chairman, who heads the council's Resource Management Committee.
The council agreed on a relativity of 75 percent of the chairman's remuneration, pushing the deputy's pay up from $42,000 last term to $62,000.
Corporate Services manager Robert Mallinson said he knew some councillors were deeply uncomfortable about their pay rise, but by law they had no choice in the matter.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the Newspaper Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.