Council Exec’s Two-year Pay Freeze Could Be Extended

Monday, 1 July 2024, 1:24 pm
Article: Moana Ellis - Local Democracy Reporter

A self-imposed two-year pay freeze for Whanganui District Council’s top executive could be extended unless the economy improves.

Chief executive David Langford’s pay has been frozen since March 2023 as part of efficiency savings to deliver the same or more with less money.

No other council staff are subject to the pay freeze.

Mayor Andrew Tripe says the suggestion came from Langford himself.

“He requested it and we’ve accepted his suggestion,” Tripe said.

“He didn’t feel it was appropriate to get a pay rise. He felt the focus should be on ensuring that our lowest-paid staff are appropriately looked after before him.”

Langford is paid about $372,400 a year.

He told Local Democracy Reporting the pay freeze was in place for a minimum of two years – “longer if the economic conditions haven’t improved”.

Langford’s salary is benchmarked by remuneration advisors Strategic Pay, which specialises in pay rates for top executives, including in local government.

The salary was reasonable, Tripe said.

“He’s paid at a fair rate for a council of this size. Other chief executives of bigger councils are paid more and smaller council chief executives are paid less.

“To attract strong chief executives is very difficult and we’re very fortunate to have a chief executive that is energetic, future focused and delivers for our community.

“This is his first time in a chief executive role and he’s doing an outstanding job. We’re very lucky to have him.”

Langford’s pay freeze contributed to $1 million of efficiency savings made in the 2023/24 financial year.

Other contributors were an ongoing vacancy management programme targeting six per cent savings from total salary budgets, as well as deferring ICT and other projects, and reducing the size of council’s vehicle fleet.

A further $1m efficiency savings target has been set for 2024/25.

Additional and increasing efficiency savings targets have been pegged to every financial year of the 10-year Long-Term Plan, Langford said.

“The target gets bigger and bigger every year. We are committed to running a lean and efficient council and making sure there’s no wasted expenditure.”

Langford executed a management restructure in the initial round of efficiency savings, shrinking his executive team from eight general managers to five and saving $380,000.

He also put in place the vacancy management programme. Delaying recruitment or leaving vacant roles unfilled saved an initial $1.2m, Langford said.

The restructure and vacancy management would together affect about 10 per cent of budgeted staff positions – about 30 staff.

He said the focus on consolidating the council’s vehicle fleet would also continue.

“We identified that we could do the same job with fewer vehicles, and we’re continuing to look for further efficiencies on that. For example, we’ll make vehicles work longer before they’re replaced.

“We’re also looking at the type of vehicles we have. When we do replace them, we’ll look for cheaper alternatives.”

The council would choose EV or hybrid vehicles where there was a real cost saving, Langford said.

“We go for fuel-efficient vehicles anyway.”

As part of the savings drive, ICT projects already identified would have to wait a year or two until inflation was under control and there was less pressure on rates.

“We’ll then re-evaluate whether we need the new systems or whether we can make do with what we’ve got, stretch them out and make them last longer.

“Where we don’t have systems, that’s not ideal but times are tough and we need to think about what our ratepayers can afford, and prioritise accordingly.”

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