Pay rise for councils on the table
A PUSH for aldermen and councillors to receive superannuation as part of their council entitlements is back on the agenda. The Tasmanian In- dustrial Commission is expected to publish a discussion paper next month about council allowances.
The paper is set to reignite debate about a pay rise for councillors, as a way of attract- ing better candidates. Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey supports the move
“It’s something that we have been pushing for a long time,” she said.
A PUSH for aldermen and councillors to receive superannuation — or an ex-gratia payment in lieu — as part of their council roles is set to hit centre stage next month.
The Tasmanian Industrial Commission is expected to publish a discussion paper next month on council allowances, a decade after they were last put under the microscope.
Debate has been hotting up on whether councillors should receive a pay increase in a bid to attract better candidates.
Part of this will involve whether Tasmania’s elected members should receive superannuation benefits, or any payments to make up for it, following a push by the Hobart City Council.
It was put on hold because of the Board of Inquiry into the Glenorchy and Huon Valley councils but now that has been concluded, the issue is set to be looked at far more closely.
Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey said more needed to be done to entice better candidates to local government, and making up for no super would assist in doing so.
“It’s something that we have been pushing for a long time,” she said.
“There is still a thought out there that people shouldn’t be paid to be on councils, which is ridiculous because the workload has quadrupled.”
Hobart and Launceston aldermen receive $35,482 a year, the deputy mayor $58,397 a year and the mayor $124,118.
For the rest of the councillors and aldermen in the state, it ranges from $28,725 for an elected member, $48,685 for a deputy mayor and $100,535 as a mayor at Clarence, Glenorchy and Kingborough to $9106, $18,716 and $31,868 re- spectively for councillors, the deputy mayor and mayor at Tasman, King Island, Flinders and the Central Highlands councils.
Under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, aldermen are excluded from the definition of an employee and therefore not considered to be entitled to superannuation.
In Victoria, mayoral and councillor allowances are also subject to the addition of the equivalent of a superannuation guarantee of 9.5 per cent.
If Hobart was to agree to a 9.5 per cent superannuation contribution, the total cost would be more than $47,000 a year to cover all aldermen.
Local Government Association of Tasmania chief executive Katrena Stephenson said the organisation would wait to see what the discussion paper said before it decided whether it would endorse the push.
“No one has ever done that [paid elected members super] because it would set them apart from the rest of the sector,” Dr Stephenson said.
“But it has been a part of the conversation [around allowances].
“The discussion paper will come out in January and we will have to see what it says, maybe it does recommend it, maybe it talks about more of a compensation payment in lieu of super, we will have to see.
“If the Industrial Commission recommends it, we will have to look at what that means because they [aldermen and councillors] are not employees of council. So that may have to change, so they can be paid super.”