Dardanup shire councillors propose giving themselves a 10 per cent pay rise despite budget deficit concerns

Councillors at the Shire of Dardanup have voted to give themselves a double-digit pay rise, despite expressing concerns about the council’s bottom line in the same meeting last week. Elected members voted 6-2 at the meeting to increase their attendance fees, local government allowances and ICT allowances from 75 per cent of the maximum level to 85 per cent as part of deliberations for the 2024-25 budget. The increase comes despite council moving to cut back planned spending next financial year amid budget concerns. Cr Mark Hutchinson spoke in favour of the raise, saying it cannot be costing councillors money to participate in local government. “Most of them work and the ratepayers are getting good value for money with a balanced council,” he said. Shire president Tyrrell Gardiner was against the proposal and said past councils had taken the 75 per cent rate for several years. “I personally think our workload is going to decrease,” he said. “We’ve done the (new council) building, we haven’t got the place and topic based advisory groups.” He encouraged councillors to keep the current pay level for 12 months until newer councillors have spent more time in the job, stating he “would not be comfortable” taking the pay rise. Cr Stacey Gillespie said there was a move to increase elected members’ pay most years and dismissed concerns about the look given the council’s budget pressures. Cr Gardiner and Cr Jack Manoni voted against the proposal, which came as lengthy talks were held to find a way forward with the council’s budget pressures. Deputy chief executive Phil Anastasakis told councillors the proposed spending for 2024-25 could lead to a deficit if implemented. He said the projected budget bottom line for the current financial year was about $560,000, but additional expenditure proposed in 2024-25 could result in a $489,000 deficit. “It is quite a significant deficit for a single year,” he said. Mr Anastasakis said it was likely the deficit would be carried into the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years, which could impact council’s ability to get loans from the WA Treasury Corporation. As a result of the warning, council voted to trim back its spending in some areas while dipping into its reserves to pay for other costs. Mr Anastasakis told councillors the changes would still result in deficits but bring the council’s long-term financial plan back into positive territory. Cr Gillespie encouraged council to be direct with ratepayers about the cost of additional services from the council. “I think if you let them know that their rates are going up because they want more ... they would not want more,” she said. The shire is currently planning for a 5.5 per cent rate increase in 2024-25, which will be put into the draft budget set to be voted on later this year. Chief executive Andre Schonfeldt noted during the meeting council was considering changing its future rates growth to make sure the shire was putting more money back into its reserves.