MURRAY River councillor Tom Weyrich has been convicted and fined for not lodging a declaration with the NSW Electoral Commission within the required time.
Cr Weyrich pleaded guilty to the charge at Deniliquin Local Court on Thursday, August 6, and was ordered to pay $2500.
The Mathoura-based councillor said he submitted the declaration a week late.
“Every six months, we have to fill out a declaration to say if we received any gifts or accepted anything,” he said.
“There was nothing to declare, it was just a week late.”
He said he was surprised by the outcome.
“The penalty was pretty severe, I thought, for something as minuscule as that,” he said.
“In all the years I’ve been on council, I’ve never declared anything because no-one’s ever given me anything.”
According to Cr Weyrich, the incident occurred three years ago in 2017-18.
“I didn’t even know anything about it until the summons showed up in the mail, and ever since then I’ve been fine,” he said.
“I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, I didn’t fight the charge and I fronted up to court.
“I won’t do it again and haven’t done it since.”
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