Mayors and councillors across NSW have been granted a 2.5 per cent pay rise from 1 July.
The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal recommended the fee increase last week and each council has to approve them.
Local government minister Don Page said the NSW parliament last June passed amendments to the Local Government Act to apply the same public-sector wages cap that binds the Industrial Relations Commission to the fees paid to councillors and mayors.
NSW councils have different scales of fees for councillors and mayors, depending on their population and other factors, as determined by the Division of Local Government. Mayors receive councillor fees in addition to mayoral fees.
Mr Page said the increase represents a rise that is capped in accordance with other sections of the public sector and allows councils to reward their representatives in appropriate circumstances.
He said it also ‘adds incentive for people to run for their local council because they know the fees they will receive will be monitored appropriately as part of the public sector pay structure, while ensuring the final decision is left to councils to act with fiscal responsibility’.
From 1 July, maximum yearly fees for ‘regional rural’ councillors will be $17,060 compared to $34,100 for ‘principal city’ councillors. Mayors in the regional rural category get a maximum of $37,230 compared to ‘principal city’ mayors with a maximum of $187,180.
