JUST a little over a year since they first raised their voices, Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) councillors in a bipartisan mood appealed again for a review of their salaries at Tuesday’s council meeting in Kingston.

Three councillors questioned the role of the Association of Local Government Associations (ALGAJ) in determining whether it can handle their pay increase issue as a priority and criticised the association for failing to pay attention to their needs.

“It is very easy for people to say you are a councillor, and you can have other jobs, and you are still a councillor. With the demands placed on local government these days, and especially on councillors, it is very difficult,” said Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams.

ALGAJ is a non-partisan local government organisation that represents the councillors’ interests and influence over local government policies. However, the KSAMC says it is not doing enough to keep the councillors updated and properly treated.

“You can’t have a regular job because you wouldn’t have the time for a regular job to go and attend to all the issues,” the mayor told the media at the end of the monthly meeting of the council at its Church Street office in downtown Kingston.

“Which councillor would be able to survive and be able to properly address the issues within their division and working 9 to 5? It just not possible. I think that we should pay them for the work that they do, if we can. I am not saying pay your councillor huge salaries. But, as councillors, we are always very careful that we ensure that the public sector workers are dealt with first and since we are leaders, we are always prepared to wait. We have our expectations, but we also know our limitations,” the mayor said.

Minority leader, Councillor Andrew Swaby, said that the councillors wanted to hear more about the salaries issue urgently and suggested that Local Government and Rural Development Minister Desmond McKenzie be asked to set a date for a meeting between the KSAMC and ALGAJ, which is headed by May Pen Mayor Winston Maragh.

“We want to hear more about our salaries, and I think it is about time that we do something tangible and have a discussion with ALGA,” Councillor Swaby said.

Mayor Williams said that there is no doubt that councillors need more than the $100,000 per month that they are paid for their work. However, he said that they didn’t want to make an issue of it.

“Councillors are positive that there will be increases for them, but we don’t make issues of salaries as politicians,” the mayor said.

“Far more is being demanded now of councillors and far more issues are confronting us that demand our daily attention,’ he added.

The mayor said ALGAJ has the duty to send monthly performance reports to the councils but has failed to do so, and only a newsletter is received from them every month. He added that this was not the tidy way to do things as ALGAJ has the duty to inform the councils of the developments through a monthly report.

“But this is our experience with ALGAJ for many years. It can’t be that we are asking for a report from ALGA[J] and the municipality has been asking ALGA[J] for this monthly report for years now. We are asking for consistency,” the mayor said.

Councillor Swaby noted that what has been done already and what should be done now is to ask the chairman of ALGAJ to attend the next meeting of the KSAMC.

“We need to write to ALGA[J] again to remind them that the membership of the KSAMC would like to meet with them, and we are requesting that a formal report be sent to our council each month,” Swaby insisted.

Seeking a pay increase, the KSAMC councillors have been scrutinising Section 20 of the Local Governance (Financing and Financial Management) Act that speaks to remuneration. The KSAMC Finance Committee appointed a seven-man subcommittee to discuss Section 20 of the Act and, on the basis of what is stipulated therein, make recommendations to the Ministry of Local Government for councillors’ salaries to be adjusted.

Section 20 of the Act states: “There shall be paid to each mayor, deputy mayor, and councillors salaries at such rate that may be provided for the operation of such a budget if the local authority approves.”