Western Bay of Plenty councillors were divided when deciding how to run their meetings for the next three years.

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge said the 2022 standing orders, that are a formal guide of how a council conducts its meetings, were 'decidedly confusing”, during the council's first ordinary meeting of the triennium today.

'I believe that the 2019 standing orders were clean and clean and I found the new ones to be decidedly confusing,” she said.

'I do think that they [the orders] take away some of the power that the councillors have around this table.”

Murray-Benge moved an amendment to adopt the 2019 standing orders instead, which was supported by councillor Anne Henry.

Councillor Murray Grainger spoke against the amendment.

'I believe that the 2022 standing orders are basically word for word with the 2019 standing orders apart from some errors and admissions,” he said.

'I shan't be supporting this because I don't believe there's significant change that warrants it.”

Katikati-Waihī Beach Ward coucnillor Rodney Joyce backed Grainger and said there were 'no specifics” to Murray-Benge's comments.

'If we could get some specifics of what your concerns are, then we can address those concerns.”

Joyce also pointed out Grainger had 'very kindly” done a 'word for word” analysis of the two documents.

'Based on his [Grainger's] work, I don't see major grounds for concern.”

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge. Photo: Alisha Evans/SunLive.

A vote on the proposed amendment was lost, with three councillors in support and nine against it.

The 2022 standing orders were then adopted with some minor amendments.

The council also confirmed its annual salaries, which have increased from the previous term.

A councillor with no extra responsibilities will receive $45,321, an increase of $5199. A committee chairperson will be paid $53,095 a year.

Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour will receive $70,020 and mayor James Denyer's salary is $145,667.

The deputy mayor's salary has increased by $10,000 and the mayor's is $9167 more than the previous triennium.

The increase is due to a larger pool of funds being allocated by the Remuneration Authority. The pool for this term is $546,556 in the last term it was $479,232.

The mayor's salary is set by the authority and is separate to the councillors' pool.

The Remuneration Authority determines the pool by taking into account the size of the governance role of each council, the average time required by an elected member on a council of a particular size, and a general comparison with parliamentary salaries, according to the authority's website.

How much councillors were paid is one of the issues raised by the independent panel working on the Future for Local Government review.

The review aimed to address plummeting voter turnout and a lack of diversity around council tables.

It's most recent paper, released last month, recommended increasing councillors' pay to encourage a wider range of people to stand.

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