Opinion: Time to review local government CEO salaries, number of councillors

“Part of the problem is that there is no yardstick or formula in Queensland regarding CEO salaries so councils are allowed to use their own discretion regarding remuneration.”

Bundaberg Regional Council CEO Steve Johnston. Photo: File.

The Courier Mail on Tuesday June 15th produced some very interesting information with regard to the top 10 Queensland Local Government CEO salaries.

The list starts with Brisbane being the highest salary ranging from $700,000 to $799,000 per year the CEO is responsible for administering an annual budget of $3.8 billion dollars going all the way to number 10 which features 9 councils on $300,000 to $400,000 one of which is Toowoomba that has the CEO administering an annual budget of $567 million and has 1,790 employees.

So what has all this got to do with Bundaberg Regional Council you ask?

The answer is that our CEO came in at number 9 on the list with a salary range of $350,000 to $450,000 which has him administering a total budget of $291 million and has 900 employees.

To put this further into perspective Toowoomba regional area has 167,657 people whilst Bundaberg regional area has 95,302 which is 72,355 less.

To subject these figures to further examination the CEO at Toowoomba receives remuneration of $50,000 less per year than the Bundaberg CEO but is responsible for nearly double at 890 more employees and 72,355 larger population.

As ratepayers we wonder and complain that our rates are excessive but that falls to deaf ears, this imbalance above, is partially why they are so high.

Part of the problem is that there is no yardstick or formula in Queensland regarding CEO salaries so councils are allowed to use their own discretion regarding remuneration.

I would suggest that if ever there was a case for being prudent about using rate payer funds this example would have to be high on the list.

So how about it Minister Miles? Why don’t you do something positive in your portfolio or is it too hard like many other changes that need to be made? As an example reducing the number of elected Councillors.

Here in Bundaberg we never have any involvement with them as most decisions are made by firstly the CEO, then Mayor and Deputy Mayor so Councillors are superfluous to our needs.

Charles Brown, Burnett Downs