Wyndham council’s top officers have earned more than $9.48 million within the past financial year.
The council’s chief executive Kelly Grigsby said the municipality had 54 senior officers who were paid a combined total of $9,485,007 during the 2016-17 financial year.
In comparison, all other councils in the west spend less than $6 million a year on the total wages bill for their top officers.
Ms Grigsby said the senior officers made up 3.2 per cent of the council’s workforce and that 39 of the senior officers earned between $142,000 and $180,000 per year.
“There are 15 senior officers earning between $180,000 and $400,000,” she said.
Ms Grigsby said that in the past 12 months, the council had reduced the number of its senior officers and was focusing “… on being even more efficient”.
“With Wyndham City servicing one of the largest and fastest-growing municipalities in Australia, it’s important that we offer competitive salaries so that we can attract the best staff,” she said.
Ms Grigsby said the salaries of all Wyndham’s senior officers were cross-checked with the McArthur Local Government survey, which included data from 210 councils and 7578 positions, across more than 90 fields.
“Wyndham City salaries are benchmarked against other councils, which has shown that 40 per cent of metropolitan councils pay their staff more for a similar role,” she said.
During the 2016-17 financial year, 41 senior employees at Hobsons Bay council earned a combined $5.11 million, according to the council’s annual report.
Brimbank council’s annual report for the same time states its 40 most senior staff earned a total of $4.98 million.
According to Melton council’s 2015-16 annual report, the salaries of its 28 top employees added up to $4.12 million.
In the same financial year, Maribyrnong council’s 36 highest-earning employees were paid $5.28 million overall.
