Sydney councils paid over $51 million in wages for 184 executives in one year
Sydney councils dished out an eye-watering $51 million on fat cat wages to executives, with the highest earner pocketing almost $500,000 and the average general manager wage coming in at $382,000.
NSW
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Sydney councils dished out an eye-watering $51 million on fat cat wages to executives, with the highest earner pocketing almost $500,000.
A Daily Telegraph investigation can reveal the total bill for the 34 Sydney and Greater Sydney councils’ 184 bureaucrats was $51,298,979 in 2017-2018, the most recent figures available, with the average general manager wage coming in at $382,000.
The most highly paid was Inner West Council GM Rik Hart whose total package was $486,990 — topping NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s $407,980 pay packet and just $62,000 short of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s.
And while normal workers have endured years without a wage rise, council bureaucrats have enjoyed big hikes over the past decade — Strathfield GM Henry Wong’s package was $206,092 higher than in 06-07 while Camden Council’s GM pocketed $353,625, a rise of $121,625, and the City of Fairfield GM received $443,852, an increase of $164,437 in nine years.
Ms Berejiklian might envy Northern Beaches Council chief Ray Brownlee’s whopping $457,554.91 salary before tax in the 12 months to June 30 2018. The council also forked out a $613,005.62 termination payment for the previous CEO and currently pays its three directors a total $1.07 million.
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Last year City of Canterbury-Bankstown General Manager Matthew Stewart took home $472,454 including superannuation while the council shelled out $27,000 sending representatives to the US for the Smart Cities Exchange trip, to Poland’s World Library and Information Conference and the International Society for Music Education’s conference in Azerbaijan in the Middle East.
The head of City of Sydney GM Monica Barone, wasn’t lining up at the soup kitchen either pocketing $50,099 more than she could have four years ago with $444,956 and with a team of nine senior staff paid a total $2.7 million to manage 208,374 taxpayers.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore collected a juicy $192,536.28 before tax for 2017-2018.
In some instances fat cat salaries did not reflect the council’s population — Ryde’s GM took home $360,395 despite serving only 116,302 ratepayers.
North Sydney’s GM Ken Gouldthorp pocketed $391,156 including superannuation and private car to run a council looking after just 67,658.
Among the highest salaries were provided by City of Fairfield, Penrith City Council and Georges River Council who awarding their chief executives $443,852, $434558 and $428,207 respectively.
Sutherland Shire GM Scott Phillips earned $430,756 including $20,000 superannuation, Waverley GM Ross McLeod gets $449,358 and Randwick Council’s Therese Manns started last November on a package including car and super of $428,598.
At Lane Cove council the bill for a GM and five staff came to $1,301,953. Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance director of Policy Satya Marar said Australia’s general manager wages were among the highest in the developed world and called for amalgamations of more councils since the 2016 merger that saw NSW councils slashed from 152 to 128 to cut costs.
“We have too many councils and too many GMs who by their sheer number are difficult to police; each have different rules they must abide by,” he said.
“We need a New Zealand system where there are 16 regions more efficiently run where ratepayers get more bang for their buck.
“Councils are not privately-run and not held accountable in the same way as companies — big salaries don’t necessarily attract the best person for the job.”
Shadow Local Government Minister Greg Warren branded the salaries “astonishing” and called for councils to address extortionate GM wages determined by councillors.
“It’s astonishing that a few managers earn almost the same as the Australian Prime Minister and most earn more than the British Prime Minister ($276,241) and that’s not even without having the worry of Brexit,” he said. “The money they splash on managers could be better used to provide services to ratepayers and bring down costs. Councils must give serious consideration when deciding salaries.”
City Of Sydney Council defended its senior staff salaries as benchmarked against comparable large urban councils and other major public sector organisations.
“The City of Sydney CEO and directors manage services for Australia’s only global city and leading knowledge-based economy,” a spokesman for the 2,000 staff organisation said.
An Inner West Council spokeswoman said Mr Hart’s salary was employed on an interim basis in 17-18 and that was taken into account in determining his salary. She said the current CEO Michael Deegan was paid $440,000 a year, “which is less than the former general manager.”
Director of Communications at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs Evan Mulholland said: “Punters have had a gutful of unaccountable council CEO's in their ivory towers. Councils’ focus should be on rubbish, cutting red tape, fixing local roads and lowering rates.”