{"id":319458,"date":"2022-06-07T20:08:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T10:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=319458"},"modified":"2022-06-09T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T12:11:09","slug":"councillors-knock-back-pay-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/07\/councillors-knock-back-pay-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillors Knock Back Pay Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
South Burnett councillors have rejected a 2 per cent pay rise recommended by the Local Government Remuneration Commission which was due to come into effect on July 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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SBRC Cr Kathy Duff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 7, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett councillors have turned down a 2 per cent pay rise to keep faith with local residents.<\/p>\n

At Friday’s Budget meeting, councillors were told the Local Government Remuneration Commission (LGRC) had recommended all mayors, deputy mayors and councillors in Band 3 Councils receive a 2 per cent pay rise from July 1.<\/p>\n

The increase – if accepted – would\u00a0 have raised the Mayor Brett Otto’s salary from $133,196 to $135,869; Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones’ salary from $83,247 to $84,912; and councillors from $70,759 to $72,174.<\/p>\n

This would expand the total wages bill paid to the region’s elected officials by $11,404 a year, plus superannuation.<\/p>\n

Cr Kathy Duff opened the debate by saying she <\/strong>opposed the recommendation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’m going to vote against taking any increase at all, given the fact that we’ve cut the community back with a lot of stuff they’re not going to see,” Cr Duff said.<\/p>\n

“I think the last thing we need to do is take a pay rise, so I’m absolutely not going to support this.”<\/p>\n

Cr Gavin Jones agreed:\u00a0“I feel exactly the same, Mr Mayor – I won’t take a pay rise, either.”<\/p>\n

Cr Danita Potter also agreed but warned that sharp increases in the cost of fuel could have an impact on travel.<\/p>\n

“We don’t get a fuel allowance, so (I think) we’ll be going to less places because of the affordability of things now,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cr Kirstie Schumacher wanted to understand how the recommendation came about.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was the first time she had been asked to vote on an LGRC recommendation.<\/p>\n

CEO Mark Pitt said that during the COVID pandemic, the LGRC had frozen councillors’ wages but annual reviews had now returned.<\/p>\n

The LGRC was an independent body set up by the State Government tasked with setting councillors’ pay.<\/p>\n

Cr Schumacher said she believed no one in the Chamber did the job purely for the money; they did it because of their love for their community.<\/p>\n

She now worked harder than she had ever worked, for roughly half the salary she had received in her previous job, but did not regret it.<\/p>\n

She said she disagreed with Cr Duff’s analysis.<\/p>\n

“I think – as a Council – we’ve worked really hard to balance the Budget and support our communities the best way we can,” Cr Schumacher said.<\/p>\n

Cr Scott Henschen noted that recent increases in petrol prices had increased his fuel bill by about $53 a week. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“But we don’t do this job for the money,” Cr Henschen said.<\/p>\n

“We’re a very frugal Council … and I only hope this (frugality) doesn’t deter good people in future.”<\/p>\n

Cr Duff’s motion to reject the pay rise was seconded by Cr Jane Erkens, and carried unanimously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Burnett councillors have turned down a 2 per cent pay rise to keep faith with local residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":314021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,16,3],"tags":[1131],"yoast_head":"\nCouncillors Knock Back Pay Rise - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Burnett councillors have turned down a 2 per cent pay rise to keep faith with local residents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/07\/councillors-knock-back-pay-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Councillors Knock Back Pay Rise - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Burnett councillors have turned down a 2 per cent pay rise to keep faith with local residents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/07\/councillors-knock-back-pay-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-07T10:08:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-09T12:11:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220228sbrc1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/07\/councillors-knock-back-pay-rise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/07\/councillors-knock-back-pay-rise\/\",\"name\":\"Councillors Knock Back Pay Rise - 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