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Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby is looking for a new car to replace his Honda Accord after electing to pay for his own vehicle to offset his accepted $4300 pay rise.
Stuart says the decision to pay for his own car will save the council between $10,000 to $15,000 a year.
It was part of the salary issue decided upon by city councillors at Monday’s council meeting.
Stuart is now looking for a replacement for the mayoral Honda, which has 100,000km on the clock and is due for replacement under council policy.
The current cost of providing a mayoral vehicle is about $43,000, excluding GST. The annual running cost for the 2011/12 financial year was $17,915, which included $6780 for depreciation and $4780 Fringe Benefit Tax.
“I’m just going to buy my own little one,” says Stuart.
As yet he has no idea what he will be buying.
“That’s something I will have to discuss with my wife.”
Stuart has a policy of accepting one pay increase during a council term and turning one down. His salary will now be $136,700.
“The car itself was coming up for renewal so I thought now was the time to accept it,” says Stuart.
The cost of the mayoral car came out of his salary.
By providing his own vehicle and paying mileage, Stuart’s vehicle costs to the council are expected to be reduced to about $3,500 a year.
Tauranga City Councillors are paid out of a $758,828 pool, which remains the same as last year.
Under that structure deputy mayor David Stewart’s salary is $84,232.66, a single committee chairman receives $81,226.15 and eight councillors are paid $74,171.15.
The Remuneration Authority sets councillor and mayoral salaries by determining points based on the territorial authorities’ Population, Expenses, and Assets.
The result was then increased by 1.5 per cent by the Remuneration Authority to reflect general wage growth and adverse economic conditions.
This is done because the Remuneration Authority has not yet determined its pay line for 2012 and cannot do so until July/August.
Tauranga City Council hires cars for special occasions.
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Posted on 21-06-2012 00:12 | By PLONKER
Well he already knows it is a actually a car, but the money is sooooo good he takes the money every time.