January 16, 2013
South Burnett councillors voted today – for the last time – to accept a pay rise.
The councillors were awarded their annual pay rise on January 1 by the Queensland Local Government Remuneration Tribunal. This year it was 2.5 per cent.
The Tribunal determines pay rates for mayors, deputy mayors and councillors for all local governments in Queensland.
The rises are based on a percentage of a State Government backbencher’s salary and the category of a council (ie. its size, population etc).
For 2013, the Tribunal set South Burnett Regional Council salaries as follows:
- Mayor – 80 per cent of the rate payable to a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly ($112,462)
- Deputy Mayor – 50 per cent ($70,289)
- Councillor – 42.5 per cent ($59,746)
Under the old Local Government Act, councillors were obliged to formally adopt each pay rise within 90 days of it being gazetted.
But under the latest revisions to the Act brought in late last year, this process will come to an end. In future, pay rises will occur automatically and no longer need to be ratified by each council.
Speaking to the motion to formally adopt the latest pay rise at today’s meeting, Cr Kathy Duff said she was personally glad the need to vote on councillor pay rises would end.
She said even though councillors had nothing to do with the rises, they always drew criticism from some people in the community.
“Even if the rise is $1 a year there’ll always be someone who’ll think it’s wrong,” she said.
- External Link: How Council Pay Rises Are Determined
