Northern Beaches Council blasted by one of its own for voting itself a 12pc payrise
A member of Northern Beaches Council has slammed fellow councillors for voting themselves a 12pc pay rise while ratepayers struggle with Covid money blues.
Manly
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Members of a newly elected Sydney council have been blasted by one of their own for voting to give themselves a 12 per cent pay rise while many locals are struggling financially due to Covid.
One of Northern Beaches Council’s first decisions was to increase payments to the part-time councillors by 2pc — to $31,020 a year — the maximum amount allowed under NSW Government rules.
Fourteen of the 15 councillors, who for the first time will also receive a 10 per cent superannuation contribution, voted for their fee hike.
Veteran independent councillor Vincent De Luca, a lawyer, said the council should have tossed out the “insensitive” rise as a sign of solidarity with locals doing it financially tough.
But other councillors said while they acknowledged many in the community were battling, the pay rise was warranted because they were already working long hours — up to 24 hours each week on council business — and the fees no where near covered the time spent.
And making the “modest” fees paid to councillors “fairer”, would encourage more talented and experienced people to run for council, some councillors said.
One of the seven new councillors, The Greens’ Miranda Korzy, said she was already “basically working full-time” on council work.
At its first meeting on Tuesday night the council was advised that the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal was allowing a 2pc rise their fees.. It was asked to vote on a motion to fix the annual fees at the maximum level of $31,020.
As well as the $31,020, full-time Mayor Michael Regan will receive another $90,370.
The councillors were also told that, after a decision by the NSW Government last year to help attract more people into local government, 10pc super payments would be added to their fees.
“It’s a huge whack when you consider you’ve got people out there struggling to pay their bills and have lost their jobs,” Cr De Luca said after the meeting.
“I thought it was insensitive, that the first major decision the new council made was to give ourselves a pay rise.”
During the debate on the motion Cr De Luca, who said he worked between 18 and 24 hours a week at night on council matters, said the council must set an example by “tightening our belts”.
Cr De Luca was also critical of a part of the motion which allowed any future annual pay rises to be granted automatically
Cr Sue Heins, a small-business owner, on the Your Northern Beaches independent Team, welcomed the increase and the superannuation contribution.
“I don’t think people realise how much we actually work,” she said outside the meeting. “They think we just meet once a month … but we are sometimes attending three, four, five, events and committee meetings a day. Most people are shocked when we say we earn $30,000.
“We’re definitely not in it for the money.
“I’ve always said we get paid less than the cleaners, yet we make multimillion-dollar decisions.
“I know there will be days when the new councillors, responding to emails and following up on council matters, will be burning the midnight candle. You just have to try and keep on top of it.”
Cr Heins said that if the council wanted to attract “good quality people” and councillors from diverse backgroiunds, then the new super contribution was an incentive.
Cr Korzy told the meeting that being a councillor took up a “lot of time”.
“To be honest the amount of money we’re paid is not very much for the amount of work it takes.
“I know some of you have full-time jobs as well,” Ms Korzy told other councillors.“ I don’t know how you do it because I’m basically working full-time on this.”
Cr Jose Menano-Pires, on the Your Northern Beaches Independent Team, said that “all sides of politics agree” that councillors “don’t get paid enough”.
“That’s the bottom line.
“If you worked out the number of hours we do, and divide that … we’d be below the poverty line.”
Liberal councillor David Walton said the councillor fees were not a “signicant remuneration when comparing us against the commercial sector.”
HOW THEY VOTED:
Mayor Michael Regan:. Full-time mayor – YES
Deputy mayor Candy Bingham: Retired, community activist – YES
Vincent De Luca: Lawyer – NO
David Walton – Board Member of the NSW State Archives and Records Authority and retired police commander on the northern beaches – YES.
Sue Heins – small business operator – YES
Kristyn Glanville: – environment and planning lawyer – YES
Stuart Sprott: hospitality operator – YES
Jose Menano-Pires: retired IT and computer science consultant – YES
Georgia Ryburn: management consultant – YES
Sarah Grattan: Chief Operating Officer of UNICEF Australia.
Ruth Robins – retired and volunteer with the The Link Church Community Care – YES
Bianca Crvelin: accountant – YES
Miranda Korzy: journalist – YES
Michael Gencher: PR consultant – YES
Rory Amon: solicitor – YES
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