Logan ratepayers rail against 2% pay rise for councillors

The incoming Logan City Council will have less than two months to draft a budget and vote on whether to accept a controversial 2 per cent pay rise.

Logan’s next mayor Darren Power and his council will decide on whether to take a 2 per cent pay rise. AAP/John Gass

The incoming Logan City Council will have less than two months to draft a budget and vote on whether to accept a controversial 2 per cent pay rise.

COUNCIL PAY RISES MARCH 2019

COUNCIL PAY DEAL 2018

HOSPITAL STAFF ANGRY OVER PAY FREEZE

COUNCIL WAGE DEAL FOR STAFF 2019

The new council has also been urged to review measures to ease pressure on residents during the coronavirus crisis.

Ratepayers wrote to the acting chief executive Silvio Trinca asking him to step up measures to help alleviate hardship during the pandemic.

Last month, Logan City Council Administrator Tamara O’Shea unveiled stage 1 of a support package which included giving ratepayers an extra four months’ interest free to pay rates and fast-tracking payments to contractors in 14 days.

But the Logan Ratepayers’ Association slammed the measures, saying they did not provide significant relief for the wider community.

Administrator Tamara O’Shea and acting CEO Silvio Trinca have put in a range of measures to give relief to council contractors – but more needs to be done to help ratepayers, says the city’s Ratepayers’ Association’s Rod Shaw.

In the letter to Mr Trinca, Logan Ratepayers’ Association president Rod Shaw urged the incoming council to do more and axe any proposed annual salary rises for councillors.

Last week, the state government froze a proposed 2.5 per cent pay rise for state employees.

“The new council must take account of the extreme hardships being endured by the community and business through the implementation of the federal government restrictions,” Mr Shaw said.

“It would be an appropriate show of support for the community for new councillors and the mayor to vote against accepting any salary increases recommended for implementation in July 2020 as a show of solidarity and confirmation that ‘We are all in this together’.”

SPECIAL FREE SUBSCRIPTION DEAL

The incoming council will vote in May, on whether to accept a 2 per cent pay rise set by the Local Government Remuneration Commission.

The pay rise will see the mayoral salary rocket from $228,521 to $233,091 with the deputy mayor pocketing an extra $3167 to take home $161,499.

A councillor will get $141,520, up from the current $138,745 or an $2775 extra.

On top of the pay deal, the councillors receive a maximum 12 per cent superannuation payment.

Councillor salaries will be a main issue for the new council and will have to be approved before July 1 along with the new council’s first budget.

In the May meeting, the council will have options to accept the pay increase as recommended by the commission or take a lesser amount or reject it in total.

There is no option to increase the proposed salary as the commission sets the maximum.

If councillors vote to freeze their salary, they will only have to wait until December when the commission will hand down a new recommended pay rise.