For love or money - that was the nub of a debate for Whanganui councillors this week.
The Remuneration Authority sets the pay scales for local authorities across the country at July 1 of each local body election year, but consults with councils before having the final say on how much mayors and councillors will be paid.
On Tuesday, the majority of Whanganui's councillors agreed on recommending to the authority an increase of 2.5 per cent for their work.
And they also agreed that an allowance to councillors (a total of $63,000) for extra duties would not be allocated. This fund is usually doled out when councillors are involved in extra meetings.
It was decided that until council resolved its governance structure it would "prudent" to keep the current structure which has been funded in its 2016-17 annual plan.