ADELAIDE Plains Council (APC) has narrowly endorsed adding an extra $450,000 to its wages bill in its draft 2019/20 budget, which will soon be released for public consultation.
The document was approved for release by elected members at their ordinary meeting on Monday night, but not without resistance.
At a special meeting a week earlier, councillors debated whether to allocate additional funds to the council’s wages bill to create six new positions as part of the upcoming budget.
The debate stemmed from APC chief executive officer James Miller’s sevenmonth- long organisational review, which recommended adding the new roles at a total cost of $511,500.
That amount was lowered to $450,000, with councillor John Lush’s attempt to reduce the figure to $200,000 being defeated by acting mayor Marcus Strudwicke’s casting vote.
Mr Miller’s organisational review, and the reasons for the new positions, are currently in confidence.
Mr Strudwicke said the decision to endorse the wages bill increase was to give ratepayers the chance to have their say on the changes.
“I took the view that if we were going to consult, it would be better to consult on the larger amount than the smaller amount,” he said.
“The focus of the positions is to deal with all the growth we’re dealing with at the moment; the Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme and Hickinbotham developments are going to put pressure on us as an organisation.”
APC will spend around $5.6 million – 44 per cent of its projected total expenditure – on wages in the 2019/20 financial year.
In comparison, the neighbouring Wakefield Regional Council will spend 27 per cent of its expenditure on wages, while Barossa and Light Regional councils will both spend 36 per cent of their expenditures on wages.
On top of the proposed new positions created inside the council, independent members on APC’s three committees are set for a pay rise.
The three independent chairs of the committees, including former state Liberal leader Isobel Redmond, are set to receive $1000 per meeting they attend – double what they were previously paid.
Other independent members on the committees will receive $600 per meeting – a $200 increase.
Adelaide Plains Ratepayers and Residents Association president Mel Lawrence said the proposed positions and committee member raises were evidence of “frivolous spending” from the council.
“There’s no money left to do anything at all, they won’t even be grading roads the way they’re going,” he said.
“It’s not going to run it any better, all it means is there will be less work done outside in the community because they’ve run out of money.”
APC will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, June 11 to hear public submissions regarding the draft budget and business plan.
