More pay for just turning up

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.