Councillor, mayoral fees set for 2025/26

Narrabri Shire Council has adopted its 2025/26 councillor fees in line with the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal.

At last week’s ordinary meeting, elected members adopted a councillor fee of $18,890 and mayoral fee of $40,530 for the financial year.

The motion to adopt the fee structure was moved by Cr Brett Nolan and seconded by Cr Ethan Towns.

Each year the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal makes a determination on councillor and mayoral fees, council’s business paper state.

“This determination divides councils into categories and sets a range of amounts within which councils of each category are permitted to pay to councillors and mayors as fees,” the information read.

“The tribunal also typically sets a general increase to both ends of the range across all categories, which is capped at a maximum of three per cent.

“Each council has a classification, typically by reference to its population and geographical size.

“Every three years, the tribunal must determine the categories of councils and assign councils to the categories.

“The last review took place in 2024, placing Narrabri Shire Council in ‘rural large’ category for non-metropolitan councils.”

Council is also required to determine its fees in accordance with Local Government Remuneration Tribunal by July 1.

NSW councillor and mayoral fees are significantly less than remuneration offered in neighbouring states, data shows. In Queensland, a recent remuneration report showed that the base annual fee for a councillor started at almost $60,000 and was as high as more than $160,000 in some council categories. Mayoral fees ranged from almost $120,000 to almost $280,000. For Victoria, councillor fees are set between almost $28,000 and almost $61,000 while mayoral fees ranged from almost $87,000 to almost $277,000.