The 2020 local government elections in Gunnedah will cost more than $15 per ratepayer compared to $8 per city counterpart, the shire's mayor says.
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Jamie Chaffey's comment came during this week's ordinary meeting, where councillors voted to allocate an additional $81,936 in the 2020/21 Operational Plan to fund the election.
The cost of the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) running the election is $141,936.
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Cr Chaffey said he met with Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock on Monday to seek a solution for the rise in costs because a new law means councils can no longer run their own elections.
"We very clearly and passionately articulated how disappointed we are that we are now faced by a change of legislation ... paying almost 300 per cent more to run local government elections in this community," he said.
"Our sisters and cousins in the city are paying on average around $8 per person to have the elections run. In our community, it will be more than $15.
"There is an imbalance there that shouldn't be tolerated."
Cr Chaffey said the minister was "very surprised to hear the impact that it was going to have on our community" and they had "asked for a way forward".
"I wish I could say there was an answer there at that meeting; there certainly wasn't," he said.
"We did ask for some form of dispensation or a way forward that we could reduce that cost ... and we'll continue to write back to her with some of our calculations to make it very plain and clear to her to see that it isn't fair for communities like us to have the burden of such a huge increase.
"It simply is not acceptable."
Related story: Gunnedah council saves $45k running own election
Cr Gae Swain said it was "absolutely disgraceful that they are fleecing communities to this extent".
"This is absolutely astronomical that there's extra money, such as $80,000, on top of what we've already been discussing," she said.
At September's meeting, councillors were forced to vote for the NSWEC to run the election without knowing what it would cost because IPART's final report on election costs was not released until that day. The deadline was October 1.
On the same day, Minister Hancock said the state government would subsidise some of the election costs for councils.