MORNINGTON Peninsula’s councillors will enjoy a substantial pay rise this year.
The Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal made the decision earlier this month. Councillors statewide are set to enjoy a pay increase, with deputy mayors the biggest beneficiaries.
Mornington Peninsula council is designated a category three council. Under the new pay rate, category three councillors will receive an allowance of $35,972, up from the previous amount of up to $31,444. The mayor’s pay has risen from up to $100,434 to $119,316. Deputy mayors will now be paid $59,659.
The new allowance comes into retrospectively from 18 December last year. The Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal has also determined that mayors and deputy mayors will receive a pay rise each year until 2025. In the year 2025 mayors will be paid $132,573, and deputy mayors $66,286.
Councillors will receive a pay rise each year until 2023, when they will be paid $38,047.
In its determination, the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal wrote that it had “taken into account the substantial change in the roles, responsibilities and workload of council members since their allowances were last reviewed and considered the purpose of council member allowances and the impact of altering their value, including on diversity of representation in local government. The Tribunal has also comprehensively reviewed the existing allowances system for council members taking into account similar allowances for elected members of local government in other states and in the Northern Territory and allowances for persons elected to voluntary part-time community bodies.”
In its submission to the tribunal as part of the decision making process, Ratepayers Victoria said “we have little control over the income we need to cover the cost of rates on top of other taxes and charges. We have one income and three governments to serve. We have no ability to refuse to pay rates even if council’s rate costs are unaffordable.
Given there is no reliable data to predict the financial impact of a rise in mayor, deputy mayor and councillor allowances on Victorian households, Ratepayers Victoria feels it would be unwise for the tribunal to make such a determination.”
First published in the Mornington News – 22 March 2022
