Top dollars for councillors

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 313, 14 November 1989, Page 1

Top dollars for councillors

The maximum annual allowances of $40,000 and $10,000 will be available to the mayor and deputy mayor of the new Ruapehu District Council. Councillor Cosford said they should be seen to be working for the ratepayers in keeping costs down and that 7 .

he did not feel they should be starting at the top of the ladder. He proposed an allowance of $20,000. Councillor Gould said setting that limit would force Mr Workman into a decision regarding his present employment. She said during his campaign he had said if the workload was too Turnpage2

Top councillor dollars

From page 1 great he would resign from his job as manager of the Waiouru AGI and concentrate on the mayoralty. She said at a salary of $20,000 he would be forced to keep that job. She said by limiting the allowance council would be limiting the mayoralty to people who could afford to do the job. She said this type of stance especially annoyed her because it disadvantaged many women.

Cr Ken Malcom moved the maximum be paid. He said the district would be demanding a lot from both Garrick Workman and his wife. He pointed out that there was no meeting attendance allowance for the mayor. "If we want monkeys to dot he job we pay them peanuts," he said. General Manager Cliff Houston pointed out that the $40,000 maximum was based on a district population of under 20,000 people and that more than

20,000 would see a maximum of $50,000. He said Ruapehu was just under the 20,000 figure and was also a very large district in area. In setting councillor's allowances and meeting allowances, they also chose the maximum. Here councillor Gould said that all councillors had different personal financial circumstances and that they could all make a personal decision whether to uplift all or part of their allowance.