Pay us up to 78 per cent more: councillors

Andrew Mathieson
GEELONG’S next mayor is in line for a $45,000 pay rise under City’s Hall proposal for increased councillor remuneration.
And councillors are set for an extra $11,000 after council endorsed one of three options from local government organisations to link allowances to parliamentary salaries.
Victorian Local Government Association and Municipal Association of Victoria want councillor allowances to reflect municipalities’ populations and shire revenues.
Under council’s submission to a State Government review of allowances, the mayor would receive $92,625, an increase of 78 per cent on the existing rate.
Councillors’ pay would jump 61 per cent to $28,996.
The proposed councillor pay rate would be an increase of almost 1000 per cent on Geelong allowances in the mid-1990s of $3000.
Geelong’s councillors would be among the highest paid in Australia if a panel successfully recommended the proposed rates to Local Government Minister Richard Wynne.
The VLGA and MAV claimed the pay rises were in accordance with heavier workloads since council amalgamations more than a decade ago.
Geelong council agreed, saying councillors’ responsibilities and accountabilities had “expanded significantly”.
Council’s submission also argued community and State Govern-ment expectations of councillors had increased.
Council believed linking remuneration to either state or federal parliamentary salaries was “logical” because the roles were similar.
Council supported all 22 VLGA arguments for increasing councillor pay, including a need to balance the responsibilities of elected representative with family and paid work.
“Research clearly indicates that minimum councillor workloads are much closer to 50 per cent of that of members of parliament,” the VLGA said.
But Geelong councillors would only claim 30 per cent of a state MP under the proposal.