Brisbane City Council executive wages exceed $34 million

Brisbane City Council’s executive wage bill has been revealed for the first time in five years, with its highest paid leaving even the Lord Mayor in the shade. And it all comes at the expense of ratepayers.

BRISBANE City Council dished out an average of over $230,000 to executives in a $34 million cash splash on fat cat wages last financial year.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the total bill for the council’s 148 executive service employees last financial year was $34.349 million.

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It is the first time the figure has been published for at least five years.

It comes after a 2.5 per cent average rates rise in the same year, which is above Brisbane’s most recent inflation rate of 1.5 per cent and represents about an extra $40 a year for ratepayers.

The council’s most highly paid executive earned $700,000 to $799,999, more than double Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s $318,658.80 income.

A council spokeswoman would not confirm if its highest paid employee was chief executive officer Colin Jensen.

Last September, The Courier-Mail reported that Mr Jensen was lifted into a new $600,000 pay band in 2017-18 — a bracket that had zero executives in 2018-19 while a $700,000 band appeared with one employee in it.

There were six council executives in the same $300,000 to $399,999 pay band as the Lord Mayor in 2018-19, up from four in the previous year.

Brisbane City Council opposition leader Peter Cumming

The total number of executives who earned more than $300,000 increased from 11 in 2017-18 to 14 last financial year.

In the lower bands, 134 earned between $100,000 and $299,000 in 2018-19, down from 138 in 2017-18.

Opposition leader Peter Cumming, who was paid $212,437.20 last financial year, said he was “particularly surprised” at the top paid employee jumping into a $700,000 pay band.

“The administration fought bitterly against the 2.5 per cent increase that council employees got yet the CEO’s gone up a whole $100,000 band,” he said.

He added that the council was increasingly using contract labour hire, leaving many people without job certainty.

A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said it needed high quality people to manage more than $3 billion of services and capital works it delivered every year.

“We compete with other governments and the private sector to attract talented leaders,” she said.

“Executive remuneration is designed to attract high quality professionals with exemplary work ethic and performance.”

She said the Lord Mayor had abolished the council’s senior executive bonus scheme on July 1 this year, and it would no longer apply to any new employee or contract renewal.