Councillor pay rise doesn't pass pub test: Letter

THE yearly debate about whether Councillors deserve a pay rise or not has been once again an item of contention.

Gianpiero Battista

THE yearly debate about whether Councillors deserve a pay rise or not has been once again an item of contention.

Some say that we should be paid more as the hours we put in are many and sacrifices are high, especially when managing our family lives and the other jobs we need to have to pay the bills.

This is a misconception, as everyone who put their hand up for serving the community as Councillor knows that the pay is not very good.

Therefore if you decide to serve, you are not doing it for the money, rather you are doing it to give back to your community.

The reason why we should have not voted for a pay raise this year, above all others, is that this year we passed a budget that saw 5% of cuts across all departments totalling $2m.

Most of these savings were cuts to services to you the community such as less mowing of parks, less maintenance here and there and over $400,000 of cuts to the roads budget.

Asking the community to absorb these cuts whilst rewarding ourselves (councillors) a pay rise is totally unfair and as some would say, not pass the pub test.

Gianpiero Battista

Deputy Mayor, Lismore City Council