Parkes Shire Council has been reclassified as a large rural council and it means future councillors will receive a higher rate of remuneration for their service.
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With local government elections looming, councillors have voted to give those who take the role the pay rise they were allowed by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal last year.
Parkes Shire Councillors will in future receive $18,340 and the mayor $57,690.
The Tribunal is required to determine the remuneration categories of councils and mayoral offices at least once every three years.
The Tribunal undertook a significant review of the categories last year and notified Parkes Shire Council to move from rural to rural large council.
But the determination came so close to the start of the new financial year that councillors voted to stay at a lower rate of remuneration for the past 12 months.
"We now reached that point 12 months on where determination is there to make that decision again and it is the recommendation this time around considering we have a local government election coming up in September," Parkes Shire Council Mayor, Neil Westcott, said at the council's June meeting.
The maximum payment for a councillor on a large rural council is $18,340 per financial year, with the mayor to receive an additional $39,350.
While pointing out "nobody does this for the money", councillors agreed remuneration needed to better reflect the commitment required and the increasing cost of living, particularly to encourage future candidates.
"The superannuation along with the increase in the actual annual fee means that we can encourage more people who are employed to take up the role of councillors to take time off work without missing out on superannuation but also to remunerate themselves for the time they are taking off if they don't have the leave budget," Cr Jacob Cass said.
Cr Ken Keith said Parkes shire should have been a large rural council for years - and in 2023 discussions said the council had been lobbying for better remuneration for regional councillors for decades.
"I agree with Cr Cass that we need incentives to make sure people feel like they're at least getting some level of remuneration and encourage them to stand so that money doesn't become an impediment to them standing at the next election," he said.
All councillors agreed on the recommendation to fix and determine the annual fee payable to the Mayor and Councillors of Parkes Shire Council for the 2024/25 financial year effective from July 1, 2024, at the upper limit for a Rural Large Council.
