Shas­tri Boodan

Of­fice staff em­ployed by Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives will re­ceive a pay rise from Oc­to­ber 2025.

Chair­man of the Pe­nal Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion, Gow­tam Ma­haraj, con­firmed re­vi­sions had been made to in­ter­im arrange­ments for of­fice ac­com­mo­da­tions and staff sup­port.

A memo dat­ed 25 Au­gust out­lined that the rental al­lowance for coun­cil­lors’ of­fices will in­crease from $2,500 to $3,500 per month, while the month­ly in­ci­den­tal al­lowance will dou­ble from $1,000 to $2,000. The stipend for of­fice clerks will rise from $3,000 to $3,900.

“These in­creas­es are a sig­nif­i­cant in­di­ca­tion of care in gov­er­nance. Care for peo­ple's wel­fare is an ex­am­ple of good gov­er­nance and PM Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has demon­strat­ed this through this in­crease be­cause coun­cil­lor’s sec­re­taries were work­ing un­der the Min­i­mum Wage and that has been so since 2019,” Ma­haraj said.

He al­so wel­comed the high­er rental al­lowance, say­ing it would al­low coun­cil­lors to op­er­ate in im­proved spaces.

“This been a long stand­ing sore thumb area and many cor­po­ra­tions in­clud­ing the PDRC have led in the re­quest for this over the years and now the very first year of the UNC in gov­ern­ment we have seen it bore fruit and we are very thank­ful for that,” he said.

The in­creas­es are the first ma­jor ad­just­ment in of­fice pro­vi­sions for coun­cil­lors in more than five years and come as part of broad­er ef­forts to im­prove work­ing con­di­tions across lo­cal gov­ern­ment.