Council eyes pay day

Jessica Benton
Borough of Queenscliffe councillors want to give themselves 170 per cent pay rises.
They have proposed that allowances for councillors in Victoria’s smallest municipality should increase from $6000 a year for the previous council term to $15,000 from July.
They also want $1350 each annually in the first superannuation payments for borough councillors.
The mayor’s pay is proposed to rise from $18,000 to $35,000 and include $3150 in superannuation.
Councillors defended the pay rise bid.
Mayor Bob Merriman said “significant change” in the borough warranted the increases.
“First, the council has been reduced from seven councillors to five, so we’ve lost some manning,” he said.
“There’s also the new government act setting new ranges for the four levels of council. Thirdly, there was the government decision that significantly increased allowances available to councillors.”
State Government set new pay limits for councillors last year but councils had an opportunity to refuse rises or nominate smaller increases.
“Under the new act the mayor is eligible for up to $48,000 and we’ve gone for 28 per cent less than that, ” Cr Merriman said.
“It’s virtually an allowance freeze for the next four years and we certainly haven’t taken the maximum amount available.”
Councillors have called for submissions after voting last month to accept the new allowances.
Councillors will consider the submissions at a June council meeting before voting on the proposed pay rates.
Neighbouring City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast councillors have also approved pay rises.
Geelong’s mayor received an extra $26,575 for a pay packet of $77,300. The pay for Surf Coast’s mayor increased by $21,625 to $68,125.
Geelong councillors received an extra $8,319 for $24,200 a year, while Surf Coast pays increased by $7018 to $22,018.
Queenscliff Community Association president Joan Kenwood said the pay rises were unfair to ratepayers.
“I would think, given the present economic situation, they wouldn’t take so much from ratepayers,” she said.