Municipal monitors: Cost of council minders revealed

A record number of municipal monitors have been appointed by government to keep an eye on councils. So how much is this costing ratepayers?

Watchdogs appointed to keep rogue regional councils in check are each costing ratepayers almost $1300 a day — with a record number hired to monitor municipalities.

There have been 20 municipal monitor appointments – including two at Horsham Rural City Council – since 2013, to help deal with council governance issues.

A Horsham council spokesman confirmed the council bore the cost of the monitor, which was funded through retained earnings and working capital.

They said financial variations were reported to the community through quarterly reports.

“Monitor Steven Kingshott is expected to work two or three days a week at $1296 a day,” the spokesman said.

If Mr Kingshott worked the minimum two days a week for his 10-month term, it would mean a total salary of $111,456.

Local Government Minister Melissa Horne has appointed several municipal monitors in recent months. Picture: Valeriu Campan

There are six councils currently hosting municipal monitors including Horsham, Colac-Otway, Buloke as well as suburban Melbourne councils Moonee Valley, Darebin and Brimbank.

Colac-Otway Shire also confirmed responsibility to pay its monitor $1296 a day.

Whittlesea, Casey City and Moira Shire councils were dismissed after their monitor appointments, and will be appointed municipal monitors for the new council term following next month’s elections.

Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark said the threshold for appointing council monitors had also altered in the past four to eight years.

“The Local Government Minister (Melissa Horne) getting involved and appointing a monitor used to mean the council was in deep trouble — intervention was the only way out,” he said.

“It seems now the approach is an ‘aide to democracy’ in that other approaches haven’t worked and an outside influence is needed.”

Several key concerns across Victorian appointments included council ability to perform, councillor behaviour and understanding of roles, meeting procedures, relationships between councillors and staff, and health and safety processes.

Apart from monitor appointments, there have been five commissions of inquiry, when there are “serious governance failures”, at Moira, South Gippsland, Ararat Rural City, Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire councils.

Victorian Ratepayers and Residents Association president Peter Vucinic said it was disappointing ratepayers were lumped with another expense.

“Rising rates are contributing to the cost of living, so another expense due to governance issues is pretty frustrating,” he said.

“It’s good there’s oversight in the event of governance problems but it’s a pity the government department can’t manage it with existing resources, instead having to hire monitors as an added expense.”

Originally published as Municipal monitors: Cost of council minders revealed