Kempsey Shire councillors vote to accept pay rise

The elected body voted to fix councillor fees for the 2022-2023 financial year at $21,100, and set the mayor's fees for the same period at $46,040.

That is the maximum amount allowed for regional rural categorised councils as determined by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal.

Cr Arthur Bain said coming on the back of a rate rise discussion, giving themselves effectively a pay increase could be problematic, however they were talking about a total cost to the council of an additional $4590.

"We are also looking at the introduction of superannuation," he said.

"I believe that it is important that we do approve this resolution as it enables equity of participation of people from all walks of life and all financial situations."

Cr Joshua Freeman said part of him wanted to decrease the fees on the assumption it would help the council's budget.

Cr Freeman said he would like to see more young people have the opportunity to be part of the elected body, and the workload was not feasible if councillors weren't getting paid "this small amount of just over $20,000".

"I think it is really fair and actually the best thing we can do for ensuring that the councillors are of good quality and good diversity into the future," he said.

Cr Kerri Riddington told the meeting she had laboured long and hard over the matter, and she thought a two per cent increase, while it seemed reasonable, could look problematic.

"However, I sought advice from a lot of people and I was convinced that we need equity and accessibility into this council and we need to continue on with the calibre of people and attract good calibre of people," she said.

Cr Riddington said Local Government NSW fought long and hard for superannuation for councillors.

The peak organisation argued that mayors and councillors should be entitled to receive superannuation.

Councils may make superannuation contributions to councillors from the financial year starting on July 1, 2022 after an amendment to the Local Government Act.

Superannuation for councillors is optional and is at each council's discretion.

Kempsey Shire Council agreed to make superannuation payments to councillors from July 1, 2022.

The council noted that the mayor receives both the mayor and councillor fee, and as such, receives the superannuation payments for both sets of fees.

Meanwhile, Kempsey Shire voters go back to the polls on July 30 for a by-election to decide all eight councillor roles.

The Supreme Court approved the NSW Electoral Commission application to void the result of the 2021 local government election in three shires, including Kempsey, after the failure of the iVote system.

The councillors elected in December 2021 will remain in the role until the day of the by-election.

The mayoral election will not be re-contested. Mayor Leo Hauville will remain in his role until 2024.