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Auckland Council salaries: 86 officials earn more than $250,000
Figures released by the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance today say that 48 staff earn more than Mayor Phil Goff's salary of $296,000. Seven staff at the council earn more than Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose annual salary is $471,000, the alliance claims. The list collated publicly available information about the pay of staff earning over $250,000, Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance spokeswoman Jo Holmes said. The alliance says 71 per cent of those identified on the list are men, including all six of the staff who are paid more than $500,000. On the list are 24 Auckland Transport employees, 11 from Watercare, six from Regional Facilities Auckland, five from ATEED, and five from Panuku Development. In an April 17 letter Auckland Council chief executive Stephen Town told the lobby group its figures were inaccurate. The council agreed there was a degree of public interest in the value of senior roles and had earlier provided salary bands - without names - attributable to senior council and CCO roles. The council believed that response met public interest, transparency and accountability requirements. The ratepayer group published that letter itself to show it had attempted to check the accuracy of its information before publishing. Holmes said publishing today's "Town Hall Rich List" was "an exercise in transparency and accountability". "If someone is paid more than a government minister, ratepayers should at the very least know who they are and what they do." However Town said in the letter that despite the inaccuracies, the council would not be correcting or confirming the salary figures or the names of the people concerned as it would be an "unacceptable intrusion into their privacy". Town referred to a previous Ombudsman's decision in which a request for specific details about Christchurch City Council salaries was refused, on the basis that privacy issues outweighed the public interest in releasing the information. "We object to you targeting specific council group employees and pressuring them to release their personal information. We ask you to refrain from doing so and to make any further requests for information through the official and proper channels," Town wrote.
But the alliance told Town that it had collated the figures using publicly available information - it had then taken the extra step of emailing those concerned to ask them if they wished to correct or clarify any information. "We totally reject your assertion that the Rich List is an 'unacceptable intrusion into [the] privacy' of the individuals listed... These aren't frontline or lowly paid anonymous staff. "Without exception, those listed are in senior positions," the alliance said.
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Poll: Is it rude to take a full trolley to self-checkout?
Luckily self-checkout is being pretty common in supermarkets these days and we generally use it to quickly buy a few things without the long lines. But perhaps it's appropriate to head there with your full trolley to skip the lines?
What are your thoughts? Is that rude?
Share in the comments below if this has ever happened to you.
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51.2% Yes!
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45% Nah, it's okay
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3.8% Other - I'll share below!
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Q&A: Ask a question about...Online Safety
Continuing with Neighbourly's online Q&A with experts in their field, this week we are tackling online safety with Jandy Fiske from Netsafe.
Jandy Fiske has been with Netsafe for nearly 8 years. Starting on their helpline, she's now Netsafe's Community Engagement Advisor. Jandy says: 'I'm passionate about online safety because I strongly oppose bullying and want to support those affected by it.'
Jandy is passionate about protecting vulnerable communities and is promoting online safety to ensure no one falls prey to online scams. She can answer your questions about any type of online scams, and also about online harm such as online bullying.
↓ Ask your question below now and she'll be online on Wednesday, 11th September to reply to you ↓
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Happy Monday, neighbours, can you solve this riddle🤔
What has a neck but no head, two arms but no hands?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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