Ratepayers fund new payrise

Council has voted to increase Councillor allowances, while also adding a specific allowance for the Deputy Mayor.

The previous year’s allowances, contained in a report presented to Council on 30 November 2022, were $99,150 for the Mayor and $30,980 for other Councillors.

The motion to increase Councillors’ pay was originally introduced at the 21 December Special Meeting of Council last year but was deferred.

At Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday 1 February, Council voted to update allowances according to the maximum allowances released by the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal on 18 December 2022, being $100,637 for the Mayor, and $31,353 for regular Councillors.

The motion also included a new allowance for the Deputy Mayor of $50,319. Each allowance is inclusive of 10 per cent superannuation.

This is an increase of 1.5 per cent on the previous year’s allowances contained in the November 2022 report.

The allowance increase was approved by six of the seven Councillors, with Cr Paul Tatchell being the only vote against. Against Council protocols, Cr Tatchell wasn’t called to speak regarding his objection.

Cr Tatchell told the Moorabool News he couldn’t vote in favour of a pay increase for Councillors while Moorabool families are struggling through cost-of-living increases.

“We’ve seen it with both the State and Federal Governments taking a pay rise when people were doing it tough during COVID. And here we are with some of the highest interest rates we’ve had in almost a quarter of a century, high fuel costs, high grocery costs…everyday living costs have gone through the roof, and we’ve got the people who are meant to represent us as Joe Average taking pay rises,” he told the Moorabool News.

“I think people have a right to question the people who are supposed to be representing them…I would’ve liked to have had a debate and try to convince a few Councillors. How many hours do we do a week as Councillors? Where’s the checks and balances here?” he said.

Council CEO Derek Madden said the increase was “in line with what is set out by the Victorian independent Remuneration Tribunal”.

“Council has long appointed a Deputy Mayor to help with the responsibilities the Mayor has in such a large shire. In Victoria, 70 of the 79 Councils appoint a Deputy Mayor. The review of allowances done by the remuneration tribunal was published after the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor (they came into effect on 18 December 2022), therefore this was the first chance Council had to review and receive the report on allowances, as per normal requirements,” Mr Madden said.

The new allowances are a significant increase on the 2021 allowance figures, with Council conducting a review on allowances in June that year that were set at $81,204 per annum for the Mayor, and $26,245 per annum for regular Councillors, plus an additional 9.5 per cent to account for the superannuation guarantee contribution at the time.