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Wednesday, November 25, 2015
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The time of their lives
HIGH schools across the region celebrated their year 12 formals last week to bid farewell to their schooling life. On an emotional day, hundreds of students shed their school uniforms and dressed to impress at their last school commitment. Mareeba State High School held their formal on Friday evening at the Mareeba International Club. The 2015 formal lived up to expectations, with the students looking their best on the night and spending time with their friends. Pictured is Mareeba State High School graduates Lani Fitzsimmons, Lisa Jennings, Helena Kath, Tayla Hughes, Jasmine Cleall, Kayley Gayton and Airlie Roberts. For coverage of the Mareeba, Atherton and Malanda State High School formals, turn to Pages 12 and 13. Photo by Peter Roy.
Greater expense By Justin Fris
THE Tablelands Regional Council formally endorsed the release of their 2014/2015 Annual Report last Thursday morning. Coupled by the release of the recent Mareeba and Cook Shire Council annual reports, all documents have made for interesting reading – especially in terms of expense differentiation. Despite being on lower salaries (as part of being a ‘Category 3’ council), Mareeba Shire councillors spent $23,873.57 less on communication
and travel-based entitlements than their TRC counterparts. TRC councillors are part of a ‘Category 4’ council, which means their salaries are substantially higher. For the purpose of this article, three variables of expenses have been analysed. These include: phone, professional development and miscellaneous expenses. Cook Shire Council and Mareeba Shire Council opted to offer a complete breakdown of expenses, with the TRC offering only a total expense figure.
In terms of comparing mayoral expenses, Cook Shire Council Mayor Peter Scott led the way with $17,739.90 – however $15,869.93 of this amount was spent on personal developmentrelated training. TRC Mayor Rosa Lee Long’s total expenses reached $14,770.69 – whereas MSC Mayor Tom Gilmore’s expenses only totalled $5,638. Across all three councils (Cook, MSC and TRC), the only two other councillors (excluding mayors) who finished with double digit expenses were Cr’s Geoff Stocker ($13,208.95) and Peter
Hodge ($11,572.51) from the TRC. At the other end of the scale, Cook Shire councillors Russell Bowman ($966.77) and Sue Clark ($477.77) had the lowest total expenses. In terms of phone expenses, Cook Shire councillors only accrued $4,103.27, with MSC councillors reaching $19,043. However these figures effectively have evened out, in terms of differentiation of professional development expenses (Cook Shire - $36,045.15 vs MSC $11,468). CONTINUED PAGE 3
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