By ANNA USHER

North Sydney councillors have voted to pay themselves the maximum fee allowed under the NSW local government pay scale, at the same meeting where they locked in a 52.66 per cent rate rise for every ratepayer in the LGA.

Both decisions passed 6 to 3 on Monday night, carried by the same six votes: Mayor Zoë Baker and Councillors MaryAnn Beregi, Chris Holding, Angus Hoy, Godfrey Santer and Shannon Welch.

Each councillor will now collect $30,640 a year.

Mayor Baker’s total package rises to $112,020 per annum.

The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal set the range for councils like North Sydney at $16,420 to $30,640 per councillor. Council papers show that if councillors had simply done nothing, the law would have defaulted their pay to the minimum.

Two councillors tried to stop the wage increase. Cr Jessica Keen moved to freeze pay at current levels.

“I just think at this time it’s actually the optics of increasing your own remuneration,” Cr Keen told the meeting. “I just felt it was actually a good message to our residents who are facing a rate rise that, you know what, maybe we’ll put our own remuneration on hold.”

Cr Beregi spoke against the freeze. “Respectfully, $30,000 is not a lot for the time, effort and work that I put in,” she said.

“If you feel that you don’t want to have your fee go up, Councillor Keen, you’re more than welcome to ask me to amend the motion so that you are paid at the other rate.”

The freeze was voted down 3 to 6.

Cr James Spenceley then moved to drop all salaries to the tribunal minimum.

“At a time where we have just been successful in increasing rates by upwards of 50 to 60 per cent depending on the category, it is now an optical time to demonstrate that we are in line with the community,” he said.

“This is a $2 million decision over the period that was included in the SRV. We are effectively, by taking the maximum, taking $2 million of the rate increase and then applying that to ourselves.”

Cr Godfrey Santer spoke against the amendment. “I just wonder, if now is not the time, when we do get this rate increase, when would there be a time?”

That amendment went down 3 to 6 too, with only Crs Keen, Efi Carr and Spenceley in favour.

Cr Chris Holding said the debate was nothing new. “This comes up every year and the same people say the same things,” he said.

“If there are councillors on this council that feel that they’re paid too much and they don’t want the money, then they’re more than welcome to refuse it and return it back to the council.”

The pay vote came just minutes after councillors adopted the budget that puts the rate rise into effect.

On 2 June, IPART approved council’s application to lift its rates income by 52.66 per cent over three years. Rates jump 23 per cent from 1 July this year, then a further 14.58 per cent in 2027-28 and 8.32 per cent in 2028-29.