A councillor who challenged Gunnedah shire mayor Colleen Fuller to give up her $40,000-a-year mayoral allowance, has walked back her request, saying the mayor is probably “worth more”.

The challenge was made after councillors agreed to limit the pay increase allowed for elected representatives.

This followed robust discussion at last week’s Gunnedah Shire Council meeting where it was proposed that councillors accept a 6.8 per cent increase to their earnings.

Gunnedah councillors currently receive $1473 in monthly remuneration. The mayor is also entitled to an allowance of $3160 paid in addition to the councillor fee.

The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal recently recommended a three per cent increase for councillors. But Gunnedah councillors were offered the option to more than double the recommended rate, with interest, to 6.9 per cent.

The higher increase was suggested to make up for a three per cent pay rise allowed but not taken last year by the previous Gunnedah Shire Council. The previous term of councillors, about half who were re-elected in 2024, agreed not to increase their remuneration fees and instead retain them at the 2023-24 levels.

Councillors said this decision was taken partly because last year’s fees were already set for a bump. This was due to the addition of superannuation in councillor pay cheques for the first time.

It was also noted that Gunnedah’s council classification had been upgraded which also led to a higher rate payable to councillors.

When the matter returned to council’s agenda last week, councillor Robert Hoddle suggested that mayoral and councillor allowances be capped at three per cent.

“It’s not so much about the money, it’s about the look,” he said.

The second-term councillor said given council’s upcoming special rate variation, any increase to pay above the tribunal’s recommendation, would not go down well in the community.

Councillor Ann Luke was initially opposed to last year’s decision to drop the pay increase. At the time, she wanted to see councillors paid what they were entitled to.

On reflection last week, Cr Luke felt if council had adopted the higher 6.8 per cent increase, this would have nullified any gain of the “austere measure” taken by council last year.

Others, however, saw differently.

Deputy mayor Kate McGrath said the remuneration fell well below what was expected in real terms.

“The majority of people lose money by being here,” Cr McGrath said.

“We are paying for the privilege to sit here.”

Given the already low threshold of councillor wages, she said colleagues should make every effort to reduce their financial burden of being on council.

Despite this advocacy for higher pay, the deputy mayor was recorded as voting for the fees to be capped at three per cent.

Councillor Cameron Moore also agreed the fees payable needed to be more. He said higher fees would help attract and retain quality candidates on council.

“I don’t think someone could do this role without losing significantly more than they gain financially,” Cr Moore said.

“I think we should take every opportunity to make it more amenable for people to add their skills to this chamber.”

Councillor Juliana McArthur said the current councillor remuneration is 36 per cent of the minimum wage and believed public perception should not be a factor in the decision making.

“I’m not concerned about ‘the look’ because if that was our principal, there would have been a lot of decisions of this council that wouldn’t have been made,” Cr McArthur said.

“We don’t want to go back to the time when the only people on council are those who can afford to, or are retired.”

When the proposal to keep the wage increase at three per cent was put to a vote, councillors McArthur, Moore and Tammey McAllan voted against.

Remaining councillors – Cr Hoddle, Luke, Newell, deputy mayor McGrath and mayor Fuller all voted for the motion. Councillor Rob Hooke was absent from last week’s council meeting.

After the vote had been made, Cr McArthur highlighted that mayor Fuller did not give up her mayor allowance – which is paid in addition to her councillor fee.

The mayor replied: “I’m quite happy to do that. I can go to the next meeting and do that.”

Cr McArthur responded that was not necessary, as she occupied the position of mayor and was entitled to the allowance.

Speaking to the Gunnedah Times after the council meeting, Cr McArthur said she did not expect the mayor to follow through with surrendering her allowance.

In fact, the council colleague would be “appalled” if that occurred given the extensive work behind the scenes by those in mayoral positions.

“She’s probably worth more money,” Cr McArthur said, referring to Cr Fuller’s long hours and many duties performed, often away from the public view.

She described the mayor’s comment as “off the cuff” and not one she would be pressuring in any way.

Cr McArthur added that it’s important the community “value” the work of elected representatives, even if people did not agree with all outcomes reached.

Mayor Fuller was approached for comment.

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In a short statement received by the Gunnedah Times after its print deadline, mayor Colleen Fuller said she would stand by her comments on the allowance.

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