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Like some other countries Australia has three levels of
government, local, state, and federal, and we also have a Governor General. As I
have wrote about all except local that is what todays post is about.
Local
councils collect taxes in the form of rates from property owners,
they also receive money from both state and federal governments. The money is
spent on local matters such as: town planning, rubbish collection, water and
sewage, dog registration and local roads.
In local council
elections, voters elect representatives to councils across NSW. Each council is made up of between five and 15 councillors (one of
whom is the mayor) they serve 4yrs.
By-elections are held periodically when a vacancy occurs in a
civic office e.g. a councillor resigns or becomes a member of state or federal
parliament.
A mayor’s salary
varies from council to council, my local council is Lake Macquarie, and our
mayor makes around $113,000, where as Newcastle’s mayor makes around $125.500. My
daughter is under Cessnock council and their mayor makes about $61,280.
So are these based around towns/cities or regions?
ReplyDeleteYes they are, a council will include a number suburbs there is 92 different settlements in Lake Macquarie which is the council I live in ranging from small rural style communities to the larger more populated areas.
DeleteI know my State and Federal members well. But I wouldn't know the mayor's name and I barely know the name of our local council.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea who our mayor is either
DeleteI was thinking our government setups were so different, but this sounds just like here.
ReplyDeleteI think many are of the same opinion
DeleteOurs is similar. We have city, county, state, and federal. :)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was
DeleteSounds much like our system in the States for local governance.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Jo-Anne!
Yeah I get that
Delete