Last year, the 11-member council decided to increase its councillor numbers in its Dunstan constituency from two to three to ensure fair representation throughout the district based on the population model required by the Local Electoral Act.
The present ''pool'' approach to elected members' pay meant the amount available for councillors would have had to be divided by 12 instead of 11.
Council corporate finances director Wayne Scott said that disadvantage was lifted by the new system set by the Remuneration Authority which would come into effect at October's elections.
Under the new system, the base salary for regional councillors would be $43,300 - about a 9% increase on the present base salary.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead's salary was $118,200, but the next chairman appointed would receive $117,750.
For positions of responsibility, such as chairing a committee, a pool would be available capped at 1.5 times the base councillors' salary.
Just how that would affect councillors' pay would depend on how the next council allocated positions of responsibility, he said.
If the same committee structure was retained by the next council, pay for positions of responsibility would remain about the same or marginally increase.
Mileage rates had increased from 74c to 77c for the first 5000km and from 34c to 37c thereafter.
If councillors travelled for more than one hour, as Dunstan councillors did, travelling to Dunedin at least once a month for meetings, the travel grant had more than doubled from $15 to $35.
Many councillors also sat on resource consent hearings and their payments would be increased from $85 an hour to $100 an hour for chairmen and $68 an hour to $80 an hour for other members of the panel.
The new system also allowed for preparation time, of up to the time of the duration of the hearing, to be remunerated at the same rates.
