MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has corrected information released about CEO John Baker’s $425,000 salary package.
The new figures do not change the total of Mr Baker’s remuneration but correct an “administrative error”.
Council’s 14 December meeting was told that his new, increased base salary was $386,363.64, not the $382,500 as stated in an official news release following a council decision that his salary was not confidential.
The corrected figures show his superannuation to be $38,636.36, not $42,500 as previously stated.
Council agreed to give Mr Baker a rise at its 15 November meeting and ordered a news release on 7 December.
“Given that council resolved the apportionment of the total remuneration package, it is appropriate that council resolve to amend,” legal and governance manager Amanda Sapolu said in a report to the 14 December meeting.
“In preparing the media release, an administrative error was discovered in the apportionment of base salary and superannuation.”
In a bid to make sure a similar problem does not happen again, councillors vote unanimously “that all matters relating to the chief executive officer employment remuneration and contract be brought back to the council committee of the whole before any report is tabled at an ordinary council meeting”.
The 9 December news release advising of Mr Bakers’s salary increase said: “When considering the sum of the remuneration package, council was advised on industry standards through benchmarking of similar sized and placed councils; and considered the assessment of Mr Baker’s performance over each of the quarters, a previous two-year pay freeze and the CEO’s self-initiated 10 per cent pay cut during 2021.”
The mayor Cr Anthony Marsh was quoted as saying: “Retaining a high performing CEO is essential for ensuring the best outcomes for our community. This decision is a vote of confidence from council in the CEO to lead the shire into 2022 and beyond.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 18 January 2022
