Also on the agenda is a proposal to enforce a 3.2 per cent pay rise for the council’s 450 staff.

The nine councillors have been forced to make a decision now because the previous council refused to act on the state remuneration tribunal decision in May setting out new fee ranges.

The tribunal effectively gave NSW councillors a 4 per cent pay rise but Albury’s payments have remained unchanged since July, 2006.

They were then set at $12,271 for councillors and an additional $26,050 for mayors.

But Albury is now seriously out of step with comparable councils in rewarding councillors.

Wagga, Dubbo and Tamworth all pay the new maximum of $15,120 for councillors and $33,010 for mayors, giving a total of $48,130 for the top job.

Albury councillors are also well aware that Wodonga’s next mayor will receive more than $60,000 under different Victorian rules for local government.

Monday’s council meeting will consider a staff report on the issue with a recommendation to take the maximum amounts as at Wagga and other regional cities.

It notes that Albury could pay a minimum of $6870 for councillors and $15,120 for mayors.

Staff also suggest an option could be to take a 3.2 per cent rise as proposed for staff.

Mayor Patricia Gould last night said she couldn’t comment until she had read the staff report but noted that “Albury has always been lean when it comes to councillor fees’’.

Councillors’ “perks’’ include a laptop and one of the most sophisticated mobile phones available, but no one gets a car.

A mayoral car was provided from 2001 to 2006, until Cr Amanda Duncan-Strelec said she didn’t need one and the council agreed unanimously not to have one.

Cr Gould had voted against the council having a mayoral car and it is believed there is virtually no support for one now.

Most trips on official business involving flying, though several cars were used when several councillors trekked to Broken Hill for a conference last month.