Councillors in Waitaki may gain almost $2000 in salary under planned local government pay structures, while members of the district's community boards will have their pay packets reduced.
Following a two-year review by the Remuneration Authority, the independent body responsible for setting the remuneration of central and local government office holders, the way elected members are paid will change from October, and Waitaki District Council chief executive Michael Ross said just what the changes would mean for Waitaki would be discussed by the council's committee of the whole next Tuesday.
Council projections estimate ''possible'' 9.5% salary increases for councillors, who this year had a base salary of $18,439.
''Likely'' salary reductions of 10.5% and 18.6% have been predicted for community board members and community board chairmen, respectively, which would mean community board members on the Ahuriri and Waihemo Community Boards would see base salary fall from $6146 to $5500.
The salary for chairmen of the district's two community boards would fall from $13,522 to $11,000.
Mr Ross said he was keen to make clear the change was driven by the authority and ''in no way signals any change in how council views the importance of community boards''.
''A significant change following the review is that a base salary has been determined for all council and community board elected members, which cannot be appealed by council.
''Council will now only have discretion over a smaller pool of funds over and above the base salaries for councillors, and these can only be allocated to members who take on additional responsibilities.
''In summary, we expect the changes made by the Remuneration Authority to increase councillors' salaries overall, while we expect to see remuneration for community boards decrease.''
The council would discuss the issue further with community boards before responding to the authority.
Ahuriri Community Board chairwoman Cathy Ferguson said community board members did not do the job for the money, but members from Omarama had to travel 116km to attend meetings in Oamaru, and the salary reduction would ''not help'' entice people to stand for election.
