Northern Beaches fat cats’ massive salaries amid 40 per cent rate hike

Northern Beaches Council fat cats earn more than almost any other Sydney council despite plans to lump residents with a 40 per cent rate hike. See how their salaries compare with other councils.

• The eight councillors who voted for a rate hike

Northern Beaches council fat cats are paid more than almost any other senior council staff in metropolitan Sydney, recording a spend of more than $2.8 million on salaries while reporting only having four senior staff last year.

The revelations come after a chaotic council meeting on Tuesday evening where councillors voted to slug residents with a nearly 40 per cent rate increase over three years.

The council has said the exorbitant rate rise is necessary to “maintain financial stability”.

The Daily Telegraph revealed this week, that despite blaming its precarious financial position on spiralling construction and labour costs, the council was spending a massive $25 million on 111 council managers.

Rate payers at Northern Beaches Council protest over proposed rate increases.

The total labour cost for all council employees was $159 million for 1800 staff, which makes up 40 per cent of the council’s budget.

In its 2023-24 annual report, Northern Beaches council reported four senior staff, with a total of $2,846,877 spent on senior staff remuneration. This figure does not include the $544,000 remuneration package of council CEO Scott Phillips. Northern Beaches council claims that this figure is actually representative of six senior staff, two of which were in acting roles at the time.

While Northern Beaches is not the largest council, looking after a population of more than 267,000, it spends vastly more on the salaries of its senior staff than even the City of Sydney.

In comparison City of Sydney council has nine senior staff members, who earn $3.2 million between them.

Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins voted for the nearly 40 per cent rate rise on Tuesday. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

Their base salaries are significantly less than their Northern Beaches counterparts at $2.7 million for all nine senior staff.

Senior executives at Sydney’s biggest council, Blacktown also earn far less, with five senior staff earning more than $1.9 million in total. In comparison, Blacktown looks after a population of nearly 400,000 people.

Rate payers at Northern Beaches Council protest over proposed rate increases.

Only Liverpool council splashed more cash in total on their senior executives, spending more than $3 million on eight staff.

A spokesperson for Northern Beaches council said the current workforce could not be reduced without reducing services and that senior employees were “high performing” and deserved to be paid their current salaries.

“Our employee costs are consistent with industry benchmarks, and we have some extremely high performing employees whose skills are regularly recognised through industry awards,” the spokesperson said.

Vincent De Luca, an independent member of Northern Beaches Council.

Northern Beaches independent councillor Vincent De Luca said it was unacceptable for senior executives to be paid more than any other LGA.

“Take Parramatta, they’re much bigger than us, they have bigger budgets and are a high rise city – they can justify having more staff but if you compare them to us, they spend less,” he said.

The eight councillors who votes for the rate rise.

“They’re not paying their executives what we pay – they’re more fiscally responsible.”

While the City of Parramatta has a similar population size to the Northern Beaches, it spends significantly less, splashing $2.4 million on five senior staff.

Mr De Luca said councillors were only recently asked to give CEO Scott Phillips a pay rise.

“When you’re in a crisis situation, you do rounds of retrenchments, but they’re not doing that,” he said.

“Instead of having more executive managers, you cut the number down.”

Northern Beaches council have claimed Mr Phillip’s pay rise in August last year came after his annual performance review.