Listed: Every South Australian council chief executive pay packet

Council CEOs are on big money – some rivalling what the Premier earns to run the entire state. See the full list then vote in our poll: Should there be fewer councils?

Tiny country councils have chief executives earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, data gathered by The Advertiser shows, adding further fuel to the argument for amalgamations.

While the local government sector is dogged by inefficiency and duplication of services, Roxby Downs ratepayers – there are just 4000 residents in the district – are paying more than $210,000 a year for their council boss, while those on Kangaroo Island, population 5000, are paying more than $190,00.

Those are two of many examples of big city salaries for bosses of regional councils with very small populations.

The regional figures come after The Advertiser revealed in June that more than 1200 top staff in metropolitan Adelaide councils were earning between $100,000 and $363,636 each year.

The CEO at Adelaide City Council is on $363,000 and several suburban council chiefs are on more than $300,000.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has kickstarted the issue of merging South Australia’s 68 local councils, unveiling a preferred model as an “opportunity to deliver a better outcome for ratepayers”.

Declaring his government would spearhead a South East council merger ballot as a test case, Mr Malinauskas acknowledged amalgamations were always controversial but insisted he would “have the courage to ask the question”.

In an exclusive interview with The Advertiser, Mr Malinauskas revealed South East voters at next month’s local government elections would implement his preferred model, by deciding whether to investigate the merger of Mount Gambier Council with the surrounding Grant District Council.

At the time, Property Council SA director Daniel Gannon said some of the inefficiency could be avoided by council amalgamations, as the sheer size of salaries failed to “pass the pub test”.

“There’s too much inefficiency, inconsistency and duplication of services across 68 councils, with 19 of them based in metropolitan Adelaide alone,’’ he said.

“No matter how you slice it, there is overwhelming public support for local government reform to rein in waste, inefficiency and bureaucratic duplication.”

Originally published as Listed: Every South Australian council chief executive pay packet