South Australian Consolidated Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IMPLEMENTATION) ACT 1999 - SECT 17

17—Allowances

        (1)         A council may, at any time after the commencement of Part 5 of Chapter 5 of the 1999 Act, fix the annual allowances to be payable to council members according to the rates under that Part notwithstanding—

            (a)         that the council is acting at a meeting that does not fall within the ambit of section 76(2) of the 1999 Act; and

            (b)         that the annual allowances being paid to council members are not otherwise due to be reviewed.

        (2)         However—

            (a)         an annual allowance fixed under subsection (1) for the principal member of a council cannot be less than the annual allowance payable to the member under the 1934 Act immediately before the relevant day (and if the regulations under the 1999 Act prescribe a lesser amount as the maximum allowance payable under section 76(2) of the 1999 Act, the regulations will not apply to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with this paragraph); and

            (b)         the council must still proceed to fix rates of annual allowances under section 76(2) of the 1999 Act with respect to the period commencing at the conclusion of the periodic election to be held in May 2000 (and at that time the power to fix allowances under subsection (1) will expire).

        (3)         A council may, in fixing an allowance under subsection (1), determine that any increase in an allowance will be back-dated to 1 July 1999.

        (4)         A regulation made for the purposes of Part 5 of Chapter 5 of the 1999 Act before the periodic election to be held in May 2000 may be brought into operation on 1 July 1999 even if that date is earlier than the date of its publication in the Gazette.

        (5)         Unless or until a council fixes allowances under subsection (1), the allowances payable to members of the council under the 1934 Act immediately before the relevant day will continue as if they had been fixed under the 1999 Act (and will then be fixed or reviewed under the provisions of the 1999 Act).

        (6)         Subsection (3) of section 76 of the 1999 Act, insofar as it relates to the fixing of allowances at the first ordinary meeting of a council at the conclusion of the periodic election to be held in May 2000, operates subject to the qualification that any amount fixed at that meeting for the ensuing period of 12 months must not exceed the maximum allowance prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of that section.