New policy and reporting for Councillors

Thursday, 28 November, 2019

Strathbogie Shire Council has recently endorsed a new Councillor Support, Resources, Reimbursement and Reporting of Expenses Policy and published a breakdown of Councillor expenses for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The new policy and breakdown of councillor expenses can be viewed on Council’s website by clicking the VAGO Action Plan button on the homepage www.strathbogie.vic.gov.au.

This page also provides background information, Frequently Asked Questions and Council’s Action Plan and progress.

This work is in response to the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office report into fraud and corruption control in local government released in June 2019, in which Strathbogie was one of four council’s selected to participate.

Whilst the report concluded there was no fraud or corruption detected at Strathbogie, it did identify expenditure where it was unclear how residents and ratepayers benefited, practices that may not meet public expectations and non‐compliance with legislative requirements around annual reporting of councillor expenses.

Strathbogie Shire Mayor Cr Amanda McClaren said councillors will now be equipped with more clear and stringent guidelines and process.

“We now have a very robust and clear policy and best practice guidelines which will ensure community confidence in councillor expenses when undertaking their civic duties,” Mayor McClaren said.

“We are pleased to have completed nearly 70 percent of our Action Plan in response to the VAGO Audit and aim to have all actions completed by early 2020.”

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Click here to view the new policy and reported expenses