Snouts in the Trough

Council votes down caps on conference and travel spending.

by Cat Holloway /

Shoalhaven City Council has the highest councillor expenses in NSW. But heated and convoluted council debate over the past six weeks has led to - wait for it - no change at all. 

Yes, that’s right. Even the Council’s dire financial predicament, significant rises in water charges and a recent pay increase to councillors didn't convince the conservative councillor bloc to curb their enthusiasm for travel to conferences funded by ratepayers. 

A motion by Council ‘progressives’ to cap spending on some items and bring SCC into line with spending standards of other local NSW councils was passed on May 6 with Mayor Amanda Findley casting the deciding vote. But two weeks later, with Findley and Councillor Evan Christen absent from voting, that motion was rescinded. 

Cr Tonia Gray, who publicly spoke out about councillor spending in November last year, said a new expenses policy was "about the bigger fight for values". She said council had been briefed fully and transparently in April and that it was time "to just go with it and stop playing games”

Ms Linda Nowak, in her May 6 deputation to Council, estimated that one councillor spent the equivalent of two years rent for an average 3-bedroom home in the Shoalhaven, or 18 months of mortgage repayments. 

“To me that seems absolutely insane - the amount of money we are talking about here could do so much good in our community,” Ms Nowak said.

“It seems completely ridiculous to me as a citizen and ratepayer that this kind of money be bandied about - and there’s no cap on it.”

“We need caps to ensure ratepayer money is being spent effectively and responsibly and not have some people taking what seems like more than their share.”

Cr Patricia White, who recently announced her tilt for mayor at upcoming elections, was last financial year’s biggest spender at $51,244 over and above her $29,035 fee for service. (White was also the biggest spender every year for the last six.) Next, at an extra $42,086, was soon-to-retire Cr Mark Kitchener who, in his early years on Council, topped the spending list.

Historically, long-serving councillors White and Kitchener have outspent other councillors by a consistently wide margin. In 2022/23 alone, the total of White and Kitchener’s expenses were more than half (55%) of the spending of all 12 councillors combined.

Coming in third place was Cr John Wells who complained (at Cr White’s campaign launch) that Council’s debt was due to increased staff numbers in ‘environmental services, enforcement and compliance, media spin and similar nonproductive pursuits’.

However, Council’s Media and Communications Manager, Caitlin Lewis, confirmed that in the past two years, there were no staff increases in any of these areas of the organisation.

Cr Moo D'ath was the fourth highest spender at $13,355, but she voted in favour of caps and reductions in the proposed new policy calling conference travel a 'gravy boat'.

Cr Greg Watson, who spent the least at only $565, voted to block the changes citing concerns that potential councillor candidates would be deterred by limits on expense claims that he saw as "impoverishing councillors".

Councillor expense spreadsheets are publicly available on the SCC website. The Spark has graphed these numbers to easily illustrate the immense differences between the spending habits of individual councillors.

Mayor Amanda Findley’s spending is separated from some of these graphs because the Mayoral fee, full-time workload and car provision preclude comparable financial analysis. But it is worth noting that a few councillors eclipse the Mayor’s travel spending.

Who said what?

Council meetings are long and especially emotive on issues of money. Here are the key arguments of councillors over the last three meetings where the proposed expenses limits and updates were discussed.

Mayor Amanda Findley

• Said the new policy being debated revealed how "wasteful and inequitable" the current situation is and should not be passed on to the next council who may not know or understand the extent of the issue
• "This is another nailing your foot to floor and go around in circles moment. We've been talking about fiscal responsibility and sustainability of this organisation for 5 to 6 months. We've been told to look internally and this is one of those opportunities."
• "We need to have some courage and put out to public exhibition a policy for our community to say what they do or don't like."

Cr Patricia White

• Argued against changing an expenses policy warning that with many councillors retiring this year, a new council might want to re-do a public exhibition of policy which would waste council money.
• "We need to make sure we've got it right. Not make a knee jerk reaction."
• Wanted further review of conference and travel costs because of future increases in mileage rate which said would disadvantage Ward 3 councillors.
• Originally agreed to discuss a cap on conference spending but was opposed to other details in the new policy.
• Cited costs to councillors other than mileage such as "insurance, repair, tyres, wear and tear", that were not properly considered.
• Said committment to attending community meetings was "under attack".
• "Most times I’m the only councillor who turns up. Often they don’t get a quorum. It's unfair on communities - they turn up."
• Suggested travel caps would discourage councillors from attending important calendar occasions such as ANZAC Day marches.
• "Are they going to close down ANZAC Day? They tried for years to shut down Australia Day."

Cr Evan Christen:

• Voted for caps on conference and travel spending as well as changes to specific items such as phone and computer costs.
• Acknowledged changing fuel costs but said it was "a complete furphy" that the proposed changes would restrict Ward 3 councillor travel.
• "We need to bring this up to modern expectations of community and to follow the best practice as outlined by the Office of Local Government."
• “I just don’t accept that councillor expenses can be the only part of council that are not put under the spotlight - and we kick it down the road to next council?"
• "The current standards allow $250 a day on food and drinks. We cannot do that and we have to have a cap on conference travel."
• "We need to be able to say to the public that we looked into our own backyard and moved our expenditure in to the modern era."