It has been pointed out here that our elected councillors
don’t do much these days. They meet
twice a month, and often the meetings are concluded in less than an hour. This is because the councillors themselves
seldom put forward any proposals – some never do – but simply rubber-stamp the
decisions of Council staff.
Nevertheless they have shamelessly decided to grant
themselves a pay rise.
Last month, they voted unanimously that councillor pay
should go up a hefty 17.8 per cent to $8,250 a year, with another $2000 to cover
the cost of having a computer at home.
That works out to around $465 for each of these meetings where most of
them rarely utter a word (just raise their hand up to vote yes to every officer
recommendation).
The President Tony Pratico voted in favour of giving himself
a whopping 29.6 per cent pay rise to $18,150 a year, plus the $2000 allowance.
That works out to $915 per meeting. He also votes yes to every officer
recommendation, but has to chair the meetings and read things.
