Southland mayors have combined for over $130,000 in ratepayer-funded spending since the last round of local elections two years ago.

The figures, obtained from three separate councils, include domestic travel to conferences, car-related costs and gifts to councilors and community groups.

Southland Mayor Gary Tong led all spending, clocking up just over $56,500 for the period between the October 2019 election and September this year.

Tong's most notable expenses include a donation of $5214 in vouchers for councillors in May last year, a donation to ploughing championships in June of more than $900 and Te Anau street signage costing $1377.

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In November 2019, the Southland District Council footed a bill of more than $2000 for car maintenance.

Tong said the spending was within reason, considering the scope of the area he represented.

"It's part of what I need to do ... as mayor of Southland. It’s a massive area, with a lot of people with diverse requirements.

"I do my bit to get out amongst them. To do that, I obviously need a vehicle and costs to run that."

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Tong's salary is $126,000 a year including the use of a 2020 Mazda CX-5.

He said the donation of vouchers were for "four or five" retiring councilors who received $100 for each year of service they had given. The Te Anau signage bill was a memorial for former mayor the late Frano Cardno.

"I've got no issues with justifying my spending actually," Tong said.

"My partner worked my salary out at about $5 an hour. I'm not complaining about my salary, I think it's fine. If people were going to judge me on that, I'd start keeping an eye on my hours and actually putting them in."

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Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt earns the most of the Southland mayors, bringing in an annual salary of $140,000 including the use of a Chrysler 300C which the council bought in 2015.

Sir Tim's spending for the two years between his re-election in 2019 and October 2021 came in at just over $53,500.

Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt is in his ninth term as mayor of the city. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery/ODT

In October 2019, the council spent $683.27 on the repair of a discolored left side lamp on the Chrysler, followed by a service and brake check in November 2020 totaling $1212.

In December 2019, the mayor gave culture and lifestyle magazine The Life to SIT students at a cost of $4998.

Sir Tim said that gift had now ceased to students, and was formerly taken from a separate promotional budget which had since "vanished".

Meanwhile, Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks was the most frugal of the southern mayors, spending just over half what his southern counterpart Tong did.

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Between November 2019 and August this year, Hicks spent just over $29,000, including the use and maintenance of a 2019 Ford Endura.

"We run everything in Gore on the smell of an oily rag," he said.

“You try to be as efficient as you can. We do our best, and it’s very much a ‘we’ rather than an 'I'.

"As an organisation we’re reasonably slim numbers-wise, and everybody does their part."

Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks says his council runs on the smell of an oily rag. Photo: Gore District Council/Supplied 

Mayors receive a reduced salary for the added bonus of having a vehicle.

Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins, who opted out of the use of a vehicle, receives a salary of $166,500.

Hawkins' spending between October 2019 and September 2021 was just under $26,000.

In 2018, the Remuneration Authority completed a review of how the remuneration of elected members was determined at a local level.

Remuneration for elected members is determined by the size of the governance role of each council, the average time required by an elected member, and a general comparison with

parliamentary salaries.

Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins hasn't opted in on having a car as part of the job. Photo: ODT Images

Matthew Rosenberg

Local Democracy Reporting Editor

Republished by Arrangement