Councillors regularly vote on the yearly fees they receive in accordance with guidelines set by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal, as per the Local Government Act.

Councillors’ fees must be between the minimum and maximum range set by the tribunal. This year, considering economic factors including the Consumer Price Index and Wage Price Index, the tribunal recommended a full increase of 2.5 per cent.

As the Wingecarribee Shire area is classified as a regional rural council, ranges effective from July 1, 2017 are:

For the 2016/17 year, the fee set for Wingecarribee Shire councillors was $18,840. The fee set for the mayor was $41,090. A 2.5 per cent increase will take the yearly stipends for both councillors and the mayor to the maximum allowable fee, being $19,310 and $42,120 respectively.

While some councillors said the increase should be a routine matter, others indicated they would vote against the increase in their wages.

Cr Ian Scandrett said following a 45 per cent rate increase (imposed by the Special Rate Variation approved by IPART in May 2016), it was not the time.

However, Cr Duncan Gair said councillors should be confident they were worth $300 per week to the community. “If any councillor is going to give up their days, nights and weekends – in my case I pay somebody so I can come to council – then I don’t feel any guilt about taking an allowance, and I don’t think any councillor should.”

Cr Gordon Markwart shared his reliance on the stipend as his only source of income, and said its purpose was to allow anyone to become a councillor. “I think that’s very important,” he said. “To not take the CPI makes it very hard for some such councillors.”

Others, including Crs Scandrett, Peter Nelson, Garry Turland and mayor Ken Halstead said they would use their fee to make donations to charity.

Council staff confirmed councillors must receive the fee, but could nominate an amount to be deducted for charity in a letter to the general manager.