Councillor allowances for Murray River Council to be discussed

Jul 26, 2021

The mayor and councillor allowances for Murray River Council will be decided at Tuesday’s council meeting.

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The meeting's draft agenda includes a recommendation from the council’s finance manager Kris Kershaw that councillors be paid $12,400 and the mayor receive $27,060 for the next financial year.

Councillors are required to fix an annual remuneration fee each year under the Local Government Act.

The pay being recommended for the council to ratify is the maximum available to rural councils.

The minimum amount that can be paid for councillors in rural councils is $9370, while the minimum that can be paid to a mayor in these councils is $9980.

Murray River is one of 57 councils classified as ‘rural’ in NSW.

Each of these councils has a population base of less than 20,000, while other features may include one or two significant townships combined with a population spread over a large area, a limited range of services and local economies based on agriculture or resource industries.

The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal annual report showed that the City of Sydney mayor can be paid between $172,480 and $446,960, while councillor pays are to be set between $28,190 and $41,340.