Council Discusses Mayoral Honorarium

Chronicle (Levin), 22 July 1949, Page 2

Council Discusses Mayoral Honorarium

" :: ~ . m /When the Otaki Borough Council wSas considering its ' e^tiipat^s for tbe year Cr. Rettet/raised|ihe^questiori as to the adfequftpyi liOf;. the) Mayoral honorarium, which at £52 per year, he said/ was ar >too small a-, sUm. He" added: .that' the. Mayor, Mr. h. F. Atffibrer was unsparing in the time that he 'gave to the discharge epiii3^tp(|jiy duties and he thbught- that di^shquld be ptop.erly . paid^fbx' th^b- servicesl He thought- :i'tha^A-Jthe«- -^ionorariunt' should be .inctea^ed to £250 or £300 per annuni, and, if in order would move accordingly. f

The Mayor said in reply that, while he appreciated the sentiments expressed by Cr. Retter, . it should nofc/.be forgotteii that thej councillors' services were entirely vplpn'Lary. They , , too, had .mahy duties to perform land -there'^-werfe ffiahy calls on'5 ' their time! I After all, the whple -set-up was voluntary service to the community and it was 'much better to keep it on that plane rather than to set the monetary reward as an attractive feature. Another objection was that any alteration in the remuneration could not take effect until after the triennial election. This was a wise safeguard and prevented a Municipal body from following the very questionable Parliamentary precedent of 1944 when, although the principal of stabilisation of wages and services was a fixed governrhental policy, and no re'duction in social security.and national security taxes and income tax could be granted,. the honorarium of eacli member of the House was increasea from £500 to £750 per year- and the extra £250 was made non-taxable because the Act said it was to.proVide for expenses incurred in bonnection with a member's Parliamentary duties. The increase "took effect immediately und the electors were not consulted. It was to the credit of the local bcfdies in New Zealand that no attempt was made to alter the law to enable them to act in a similar ; way during a council's term oi office, added the Mayor.