FORMER Albury mayor Henk van de Ven will be donating his $470 councillor allowance increase to the Scots School band which missed out on a $10,000 donation to purchase uniforms for a major overseas concert.
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Cr van de Ven made the pledge in the wake of council voting for a 2.5 per cent pay rise which will result in allowances jumping to $19,310.
He remains incensed council didn't provide money within its budget to help the band purchase uniforms and equipment to perform at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August after originally being rejected on the casting vote of the mayor, Cr Kevin Mack.
"It's disappointing nobody took the bit between their teeth to make that alteration," Cr van de Ven said.
Cr van de Ven is playing in a golf tournament on the Gold Coast and missed the meeting and Cr Graham Docksey was also an apology.
"If I had thought none of the councillors were prepared to move the amendment I would have flown back at my own cost to be at the meeting," Cr van de Ven said.
"I was so confident it would be moved as an amendment and also get up."
Cr Mack defended his position claiming any donation to Scots would have set a "dangerous precedent".
"There are a lot of schools in this community which do a lot of great work overseas," he said.
Cr Mack said the private school had not been totally snubbed with the provision of Albury Entertainment Centre free of charge for a fundraising concert.
"It's not that we don't appreciate what Scots do for the community, but we need to be clear that we are not just a charitable organisation handing out money irresponsibly," he said.
"In my day we travelled from Corryong to Wodonga for an excursion.
"We don't discriminate between schools."
Deputy mayor Amanda Cohn abstained from the vote on the councillor allowance.
"I don't think any councillor can vote on their allowance without bias so I abstained," she said.
Cr Darren Cameron said the disparity between the Albury councillor allowance compared to Wodonga was "a never-ending source of wonder" to him given Albury's bigger budget and being a provider of water and sewer services.
"Albury is a much larger city, the budget is much more comprehensive and issues dealt with are on a much grander scale," he said.