In Tuesday nights council meeting, the current eight (8) councillors, including the Mayor, will be voting to give themselves and the incoming councillors from the September election, a pay rise.

On page 152 of the business papers in Reports of the General Manager, is the budgeted pay recommendations that have been included in the Operating Budget for 2021/22.

This means that if the vote is successful, the fee increase will not impact this year's budget.

The question that will be asked, is the same question that was asked just over twelve months ago, when the 2020/21 budget was being finalised, "should our councillors get a pay rise when the budget is in deficit"

In 2021/22 there is a forecast cash balance deficit of $200,000 and a backlog of long term infrastructure projects that keep getting delayed due to the lack of funding such as our roads.

The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal sets the maximum fees that a council can pay in their respective regions. Lismore is classified as a Regional Centre with the minimum fee $14,100 and the maximum fee $24,810 for councillors. The Mayor's fee is a minimum of $29,330 with a maximum being $61,280.

The budgeted fees mean the Mayor will be $200 less than the maximum amount, while councillors will be $2,783 less than the maximum.

If the budgeted fees are adopted, the largest increase is for the Mayor's position, a whopping 25%. Currently the Mayor receives $45,400 and this will increase to $60,080.

The current pay for our remaining 7 councillors (minus the Mayor) is $20,245 with the new suggested pay increasing to $22,027, an 8% increase.

It is not that our Mayor and Councillors don't deserve more money for the enormous amount of hours they put in each week, they do. Just take a look at the amount of reading in the business papers for tomorrow nights council meeting plus attachments. Then, there are briefings and committee meetings on top of that reading.

When we, as the public, see a large business lose money, cut jobs and the CEO takes home more pay, we are outraged.

Is the timing right for councillors to reward themselves with a pay rise when the books are still in the red?

In July, 2020 councillors voted against a suggested pay rise for the very reasons I have listed above, council was not in a strong enough financial position.

How will they vote tomorrow night?