Shoalhaven Council will look at ways of limiting councillor expenses

And with council facing the prospect of having to raise rates by at least 40 per cent over the next three years, it has moved to limit the amount of money the councillors spend on travel and conferences.

Figures presented to the meeting showed the councillors claimed between $1204 and $51,244 in travel and conference expenses in 2022/23.

Cr Tonia Gray said the expenditure had to be reined in, calling for the council to create a new policy, limiting councillor expenses on conferences and travel to a maximum of $10,000 to $15,000 per annum.

"We are hearing loud and clear that people do not want a rate rise, they want us to interrogate ourselves and show accountability, transparency, and at the end of the day act with integrity," she said.

Suggestions of a 44 per cent rate rise will happen "over my dead body", according to Cr Gray.

She said too much money was being spent in a way that was "unfettered, unregulated, and without transparency to the community".

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"Where is the upper ceiling?" Cr Gray asked.

"Surely we can put some brakes on ourselves as we move through a really tight fiscal environment."

She said prices were rising everywhere, and many Shoalhaven residents were doing it tough.

"This is a really dire situation we're looking down the barrel at, and I don't want to vote for a rate rise."

"It might mean we have to sell some of our assets," Cr Gray said.

Cr Matthew Norris agreed councillors "need to look at our own backyard".

"This is what we need to do to make some real differences to our bottom line," he said.

"This is our expenses, this is where we can make a difference, where we can go the the community ands say we don't need a rate rise because we've looked at our own expenditure."

Cr Patricia White admitted she was the councillor with the highest expenses, but said attending events such as the national roads conference had "seen so much delivered for the Shoalhaven".

Networking at one of those conferences resulted in the then Infrastructure Minister, Michael McCormack, allocating $5 million to develop a strategy to upgrade the Princes Highway from Wollongong to South Australia, Cr White said.

That lead to federal funding for a range of projects in the Shoalhaven.

Cr White also questioned how limiting travel expenses would impact on her seeing ward three residents in places as far away as Sassafras, to address their concerns.

"How many constituents am I going to be able to talk to, or visit, in relation to the matters that they contact councillors on, if we don't get fair and reasonable reimbursement?" she asked.

However Cr White said she was happy to review any policy on expenses, and was part of an unanimous vote in support of the motion.