The water company has a new Māori name, and they are going to start sending out specific water bills to everyone, which upon first blush, if you have never got a water bill before, seems a lot. The average will be about $2,500.
But then the upside is it's good to know what things actually cost, as opposed to having it all hidden away in a mass bill called "rates" where you have no idea what's what.
The real scrap though is over the pay packets. In this new company they are a lot bigger.
The chair of the board gets $110,000. They used to get $60,000 before. The members of that board get $60,000 when they used to get $30,000.
The bloke who carries the can as CEO gets $645,000.
Toss a few figures like that about the place and the upset is almost instant.
But, and here is your real-world issue, you either want decent people for the job, any job, or you don’t.
I don't need to tell you that previously a lot of the people doing Wellington's water work were clearly useless. In a small and not complete way, money fixes that.
It is not to say big money automatically gets brilliance. But it is fair to say if you pay rubbish, you will get rubbish.
The old community contribution, "give something back" line only carries you so far and you tend to get do-gooders, not professionals.
Can I be even slightly more fiscally acerbic by suggesting that even at these new inflated numbers you're not exactly paying top dollar. $645,000 is a lot of money if you're in year 13, or a teacher, or a journalist.
But it's not much to be a CEO. It's even less when you are the CEO of an entity that is under tremendous pressure and publicly accountable by a population that will want to lynch you if you fail.
As a rule, the public service underpays. And that in part is why the public service is in the state it's in. Cheap in general is no way to run business, sign contracts, accept quotes or operate your life.
Worry less about the money and more about the outcomes.
If Wellington had never had a water worry with no burst pipes, no contamination, no poo in the harbour and the bloke running the place was earning $2 million and gave you that, what a bargain.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
The chair of the board gets $110,000. They used to get $60,000 before. The members of that board get $60,000 when they used to get $30,000.
The bloke who carries the can as CEO gets $645,000.
Toss a few figures like that about the place and the upset is almost instant.
But, and here is your real-world issue, you either want decent people for the job, any job, or you don’t.
I don't need to tell you that previously a lot of the people doing Wellington's water work were clearly useless. In a small and not complete way, money fixes that.
It is not to say big money automatically gets brilliance. But it is fair to say if you pay rubbish, you will get rubbish.
The old community contribution, "give something back" line only carries you so far and you tend to get do-gooders, not professionals.
Can I be even slightly more fiscally acerbic by suggesting that even at these new inflated numbers you're not exactly paying top dollar. $645,000 is a lot of money if you're in year 13, or a teacher, or a journalist.
But it's not much to be a CEO. It's even less when you are the CEO of an entity that is under tremendous pressure and publicly accountable by a population that will want to lynch you if you fail.
As a rule, the public service underpays. And that in part is why the public service is in the state it's in. Cheap in general is no way to run business, sign contracts, accept quotes or operate your life.
Worry less about the money and more about the outcomes.
If Wellington had never had a water worry with no burst pipes, no contamination, no poo in the harbour and the bloke running the place was earning $2 million and gave you that, what a bargain.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
The public service in this country pays around 17% more than the private sector….the private sector are the mug’s funding the public sector! Public sector jobs have always paid less because the jobs typically require fewer skills…. That hasn’t changed - we still employ mostly idiots. What has changed is the public service unions and the grift.
Mike $647k for a ceo with fewer than 5000 staff to oversee- in an organisation that’s already up and running with a captive customer base….is ludicrous!
The private sector wouldn’t pay that, so why is the public?
The mugs are the poor folks having to pay for it….and of course the mandatory karakias at the start of all the meetings. You wait and see - nothing will change
$2500 for an annual water bill is not what it costs to run. This is because of poor spending priorities of previous councillors and the ratepayers are now paying. If this is National’s idea of water done better it is a cluster. National are doomed.
Stupid argument. Brilliant Mike BusinessGuy should really be arguing that a highly regulated technical business needs a lot of regulatory & technical expertise at board level. In a government org that runs water we are more likely to see a couple of lawyers, an accountant, someone from Waikato uni Māori studies department and some retired politicians.
We would be asking too much to include an engineer or anyone with any actual technical expertise 😂
'As a rule, the public service underpays.' That would have to go down as one of the dumbest claims of the year.
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.