Just about everyone in Kapiti knows that Dougherty struggles along on $304,000 a year or about $170 an hour he works — but that’s paltry compared to what other bosses in the State sector get, according to this stuff article.

The top dog of Guardians of NZ Superannuation has the most bloated annual pay of $950,000 or over $500 an hour.  Then comes the boss of the Accident Compo Corp and then the boss of the State Services Commission, one of whose jobs, ironically, is to set state pay packets.

There are plenty of examples in the private sector of bosses who get a lot more than these figures — but the big difference is that they are there to make money for their shareholders by making commercial decisions that, if not always moral, are at least legal.

Bosses in the state sector are not there to do that and they get paid from taxpayers’ money compulsorily taken from taxpayers.

We need to challenge this cult of the executive elite — most of whom just approve things which their subordinates come up with. One of the things that we and Cr David Scott in Kapiti have made a issue of is the ridiculous salaries paid to the likes of Dougherty.  A sigificant reduction in his pay would set a valuable precedent for other local authorities, and the State Services Commission, to follow.