Do more elected members mean more cost to ratepayers?

    No. Rates aren’t affected by a change in the number of Elected Members. 

    Councillors are paid from a pool of money which is set each year by an independent government agency.

    If the number of councillors changes, the total set amount for the district doesn’t. It stays the same. 

    So, if there are fewer councillors, each gets paid a bit more and if there are more councillors, each gets paid a bit less. Cost to ratepayers is not affected by councillor numbers.