‘Really obscene’: Adelaide’s council bosses get huge pay rise while your rates soar

As nearly every South Australian ratepayer struggles with cost-of-living pressures, council bosses are about to enjoy a massive pay boost. See what the top CEOs will now be paid.

As tens of thousands of South Australian ratepayers struggle with cost-of-living pressures, council bosses are about to enjoy huge pay rises – in some cases about $50,000.

But the state’s Remuneration Tribunal has come under fire for failing to take into consideration a council’s size or services when deciding how much chief executives should be paid.

The SA Federation of Ratepayers and Residents Associations president Kevin Kaeding said it was “really obscene” when some struggling ratepayers had failed to secure any rises of their own.

Under the changes, the highest-paid chief, Adelaide’s Clare Mockler, will be eligible for a total salary package of up to $431,600, though she is not in line for a huge rise.

In the tribunal’s determination, councils were grouped into eight bands according to the current salaries of chief executives and each band was assigned a minimum and maximum pay rate.

The package figure includes salary plus superannuation, and other benefits such as allowances, leave or use of a car.

Adelaide City Council chief executive officer Clare Mockler is the highest earning council boss. Picture: Adelaide City Council

Adelaide was the only council assigned “band one”, while councils assigned “band two” were Charles Sturt, Port Adelaide Enfield and West Torrens. Chief executives at those councils will be paid between $396,240-$402,480.

The six councils in “band three”, with a salary range of $357,760-$380,640, were Campbelltown, Mitcham, Onkaparinga, Salisbury, Unley and Mount Barker.

In the case of Unley Council, an online register says the salary of chief executive Peter Tsokas is currently $292,208 plus unspecified super.

An online register revealed the salary of chief executive Peter Tsokas.

Salisbury Deputy Mayor Chad Buchanan said the rises were not in line with community expectation. He also questioned why the tribunal had not considered the size of a council or complexity of its services when assigning bands.

“To think the ratepayers of Unley (one of the smallest councils) will be required to pay their CEO the same as Salisbury, and West Torrens (one of smaller to medium size councils) will become one of the highest paid CEOs in the state – this does not make sense!” he posted to social media.

Cr Buchanan said the changes, which take effect on July 1, only apply to new contracts.

Port Adelaide Enfield CEO – Mark Withers

Burnside Council chief executive Chris Cowley.

A Local Government Association (LGA) spokeswoman said the association would be seeking information from the tribunal on behalf of its member councils to better understand the basis of the decision.

“We’d like more details on the eight bands councils have been grouped into, noting the Tribunal specifically declared that certain statutory criteria, such as geographic scope, council size and operating income or expenses, were not part of their decision-making,” she said.

The published determination noted the councils’ “very different approaches to calculating current significant elements of total remuneration”.

“A more accurate assessment of remuneration bands based on council characteristics and performance measures is not possible on the information made available to the tribunal,” it read.

Local Government Minister Geoff Brock encouraged councils to engage with a review of the rates scheduled for mid-2024.

“Councils may refer specific instances to the tribunal for consideration,” he said.

Councils had previously set their own chief executive salaries but local government reforms passed by the previous parliament brought the packages under the remit of the tribunal to ensure impartiality and independence in remuneration decisions.

This was the tribunal’s first review of chief executive pay.

Originally published as ‘Really obscene’: Adelaide’s council bosses get huge pay rise while your rates soar