Ballarat councillors will receive a considerable pay rise if an application to increase their yearly allowance is approved.
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Councillors look set to receive an extra $5000 a year, while the mayor could receive an additional $18,000 per annum with a City of Ballarat officer’s report recommending councillors vote in of a proposal to set maximum allowances.
It comes after Victorian Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins approved the alteration for the council to be reclassified into a higher scale for its mayoral and councillor allowance, if it so desires.
A review of the number of residents in the municipality and variations to council’s current revenue figures was conducted prior to Ms Hutchins approving the allowance increase.
At the moment councillors receive $24,730 annually while the mayor is receives $76,521 per year.
But this could increase to $29,630 and $94,641 respectively if the proposal is approved.
The move would put councillor allowances on par with other Victorian regional councils including the City of Greater Bendigo and City of Greater Geelong.
Ballarat councillor and former mayor Des Hudson said most councillors averaged 20 plus hours per week.
"Everybody is different, it often depends what portfolios and committees each councillor sits on as to the individual demands,” he said.
"But when you consider the expectations of the role and time spent reading agendas, following up with residents...overseeing a total budget of $180 million, an organisation of more than 1000 people and over 100 council services it is a significant role being a custodian of the city and most councillors certainly don’t do it for the remuneration but instead to achieve the best outcomes for the city.”
He said due to the low remuneration meant many councillors also juggled other jobs. Increasing councillor allowances could work to entice more people to stand for the role of council in the future, he added.
Councillors will vote on the matter at the first council meeting of the year on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the council will also hold a special council to approve the councillor code of conduct for the new team of councillors. It comes after the last term of nine councillors were almost forced to step down after they failed to sign a revised code of conduct before the allocated deadline.