Mayors, councillors set for two per cent pay rise, less than MPs
Queensland’s mayors and councillors will receive a two per cent pay increase this year, lifting mayoral salaries to between $110,386 and $263,227 depending on the size of the council.
Local Government Remuneration Commission chair Bob Abbot.
The Local Government Remuneration Commission decision means the state’s 551 councillors (barring Brisbane) will get a pay rise slightly smaller than that expected by state government MPs and public servants.
Brisbane City Council members’ pay is decided by a separate tribunal, which last year announced a two year freeze on wages.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is the state’s highest earning local council representative, receiving a salary of $297,266. But the local government remuneration decision means Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate will earn not much less, with a pay packet of $263,277 from July this year.
Mayors in the lowest category of councils which include Queensland’s 17 indigenous councils, will earn $110,386, with local councillors getting $55,192.
In south-east Queensland, the mayors of Logan, Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast are each set to receive a $237,753 salary. Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding will get $212,279 while the Redlands and Toowoomba mayors will recieve $186,806.
The mayors of Noosa, Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley will get $135,860 while Somerset mayor Graham Lehmann will get $127,366.
The commission, chaired by former Noosa and Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot, decided on the pay increase after considering a range of factors, including the salaries of state MPs and local government councillors in other states.
The Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal, which decides on the pay of state MPs, has determined their salaries should rise by 2.25 per cent from March this year and another two per cent from September.
