Golfing scandal Onkaparinga Council CEO Mark Dowd given $7000 salary package increase
THE council boss at the centre of a $6818 golf fee scandal has been given a salary package increase — coincidentally of $7000.
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THE council boss at the centre of a $6818 golf fee scandal has been given a salary package increase — coincidentally of $7000.
Onkaparinga City Council chief executive and avid golfer Mark Dowd became the centre of controversy in February when The Advertiser revealed he had asked and been given a refund for a fee of $6818 to Adelaide prestigious Kooyonga Golf Club, despite it being many kilometres from struggling courses within his council.
At the time, residents were angry the payment was made, in part because
Mr Dowd’s annual salary package was $328,000.
Council minutes now show after he agreed to repay the money his package was recently increased to $335,000, because of an annual pay rise as part of his contract.
Convener of the Onkaparinga City Council Watch Facebook site, Yvonne Wenham, said residents were tired of the secrecy which surrounded their council.
Details of Mr Dowd’s contract are secret, and council has decided to keep secret how and when he would repay the $6818 Kooyonga fee.
“We understand that he is entitled to a pay rise each year, but the council operates under a cone of silence,’’ she said.
“We don’t know the terms and conditions of his repayment plan and where the money is going to go.’’
Mr Dowd was not available for comment but The Advertiser understands the $7000 annual salary package increase had been built in to his employment contract as a yearly pay rise, and is not connected to the golf membership repayment.
Meanwhile, a series of council documents released under Freedom of Information show the Kooyonga membership has been of little benefit to the council in its claimed purpose of attracting Chinese investment.
During an Ombudsman investigation into the payment, and in numerous media statements the council and Mr Dowd have made, the $6818 was made as a business decision so that he could host potential Chinese investors in the Onkaparinga region.
But a series of FOI documents show this has not happened, and there is no evidence of the “substantial benefit” to the council it claimed when making the repayment to Mr Dowd.
In one FOI request, the council was asked to search for “Dates, times and attendees for golf functions/games hosted at Kooyonga Golf Course in 2015 and 2016’’.
It responded: “In response to your application, the City of Onkaparinga’s relevant document management systems were searched, including email and calendar systems, without result’’.
In another FOI application, community protester John Houlahan, asked for credit card payments by Mr Dowd. Only one reference to a golf game at Kooyonga with Chinese investors was found, because of a payment on his ratepayer-funded credit card of $70 for golf club hire and $260 for green fees.
Mr Houlahan said the total cost of the ratepayer investment in the Kooyonga “debacle” made the round with Chinese visitors “the most expensive golf round ever played”.
“It appears the chief executive has only hosted one function (for Chinese investors) at Kooyonga between June 2014 and December 2016 and at a cost of $32,000 that would have to be the most expensive round of golf ever played,’’ he said.
Mr Houlahan said the $32,000 cost included the initial $6818 fee and $25,000 in lawyers fees The Advertiser had previously revealed to fight an Ombudsman’s investigation into the affair and cover up the secret payment.
Meanwhile, despite criticisms by the Ombudsman in keeping the original decision to reimburse the $6818 secret, the council has voted to keep secret details of Mr Dowd’s repayment plan until 2027.