Council boss given huge pay rise
Queenstown Lakes District Council's chief executive Mike Theelen has been given a whopping 15% pay rise.
He now takes home $479,486 per year. That's up from $415,321. The $64,165 hike comes as community satisfaction with council performance drops to an all time low. Just 15% of the public were satisfied with the council's overall performance, in the most recent Quality of Life Survey, while 29% were dissatisfied and 22% very dissatisfied.
That's likely prompted by one of the highest rates rises in Queenstown's history last year, an average of 14.2%. And it's even larger this year, an average of 15.8%, as council grapples with leaky buildings payments, three waters infrastructure, and the blow out costs of the mismanaged downtown arterial route.
But dealing with some of those issues is why Theelen has been given the rise, according to Queenstown Lakes mayor Glyn Lewers, who says he is one of the few people who can manage the increasing challenges councils face.
"Rapidly changing government priorities, major capital investment needs, maintaining high-quality levels of service to the community, and responding to the myriad needs of significant and sustained growth in the district is a relentless challenge. A challenge that Mike continues to tackle head on," Lewers says.
He says Theelen has shown capable and strong leadership throughout his tenure, and in particular through this last year.
Council has delivered 88% of its capital programme in the past year and maintained its AA- credit rating in the challenging economic environment. It's also hitting its targets 94% of the time in dealing with resource consents, despite the high number of applications.
"These achievements all speak to what Mike brings to the table and the successful organisation he has built around him," Lewers says.
"Mike has developed a positive workplace culture with highly engaged staff committed to serving the community they’re a part of. He’s also well respected at a regional and national level representing and championing the district’s needs alongside myself at meetings in Wellington and Dunedin.
"The strong relationships he has built means QLDC is at the forefront of sector changes and able to help shape as well as respond to them."
Independent consultants Decipher were brought in to help ensure the remuneration review was objective, with Theelen's work and pay benchmarked against other local government bosses.
Councillors approved the rise in a public excluded meeting on 19 September, following a report from a panel.
The performance review process was by independent specialist consultants, Decipher, to ensure an objective and robust evaluation. The Chief Executive position has also been benchmarked with local government market data during this review process as the position had not been assessed since 2019, noting the last review was due in 2021 and agreed to be paused due to the COVID-19 response.
