Councillors seek 10% pay rise

GOLDEN Plains Shire councillors are seeing a pay increase and have put the idea out for public feedback.

At the council meeting on Tuesday, 27 April, council voted to enlarge their state-sanctioned salaries, allowing mayor Cr Helena Kirby a sum of $72,268 or just under five per cent, and other councillors $25,237 or just under 10 per cent. Those figures include the mandatory 9.5 per cent for superannuation.

Throughout 2020-21 in the Golden Plains Shire, the Mayoral allowance was set at $68,827, and the councillor allowance at $22,943, including the 9.5 per cent superannuation guarantee.

Cr Sharkey said he encourages the public to submit feedback on the allowances.

“It will be interesting to see what the general public has to say with regards to how palatable they see these figures,” he said.

Local Government Victoria divides councils into three classifications to assess councillor allowances. Councils are sorted based on the municipality’s current income and population.

As of December 2019, the Golden Plains Shire has been classified as a category 2 council, having previously been considered a category 1 council.

This means that the mayoral allowance can be up to $81,204 and the councillor allowance can be set between $10,914 and $26,245.

Cr Whitfield said the allowance increase is necessary due to the higher renumeration category the state government has sorted the Shire into.

“In a nutshell, population increase equates to a higher level of input required from councillors,” he said.  “I’m still very interested in feedback from the public on this.”

The proposed allowances will be available for the public to review until Tuesday, 25 May.

Submissions can be entered online at goldenplains.vic.gov.au, emailed to [email protected], or sent via mail to Golden Plains Shire Council, PO Box 111, Bannockburn, 3331, marked ‘Attention: Mayoral and Councillor Allowances Review’.