Last month, Premier Colin Barnett criticised local governments for offering bonus schemes to senior staff, saying chief executives were paid well enough.
But Victoria Park Mayor Trevor Vaughan said the bonus was paid in recognition of the achievements made against major projects that may not have been possible under long term strategic plans.
He said the decision whether to pay a bonus was decided by elected councillors.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘The Annual Report 2012-2013 on the Town’s website provides information on the number of employees of the Town whose salary entitlements are $100,000 or more,’ Mr Vaughan said.
‘All CEOs are paid a Total Reward Package as per the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal recommendations found in the Local Government CEO Remuneration Determination 2014.
‘This document states that typical components of a CEO Total Reward Package (TRP) include cash bonus and performance incentives.
‘CEOs are remunerated within a range according to what band their organisation is classified in. So a CEO could be paid at the lower end of their range and have included performance bonuses, or be paid at the upper end of their range with no bonus scheme, but ultimately their TRP (inclusive of bonuses) cannot exceed the upper limit of their classified range.’
According to the Town’s 2012-2013 annual report, in 2013 just one of 15 employees was employed in the $210,000-$219,999 salary band. The next closest was one employee from a total of 13, on a salary band of $180,000-$189,999 in 2012.
In 2013, eight employees were in the $110,000-$119,999 salary band and four were in the $160,000-$169,999 band.
The Premier said although bonus payments were common in the private sector, he did not see the reason for offering them in the public service.
‘While bonus payments are a common feature of executive remuneration in the private sector, they have very little relevance to, or application in, the public sector,’ he said.
‘Generally, I don’t think bonuses are appropriate in areas of public service, including local government.’