Perth Voice Interactive

THIS suit cost $800 and its wearer could legally have slapped ratepayers with the bill.

But sharp-dressed Bayswater councillor Brent Fleeton believes citizens have no place paying for his threads.

This month he’ll ask the council to dump the policy clause permitting councillors to charge ratepayers up to $1000 for clothes each year.

And while Cr Fleeton — elected in October — thinks colleagues sometimes take liberties with the “equipment and accessories allowance” that also allows claims for phones, tablets, a filing cabinet or shredding machine, he thinks they’re legitimate expenses and should stay.

“I will be the first to admit that my wardrobe is probably worth more than most people’s car, but I would never think to ask someone else to pay for it,” says Cr Fleeton, a staffer for Liberal MLC Peter Katsambanis.

“I bought this tie from Rome and there’s nothing stopping me from coming back and claiming it at council.”

He says he would be “very surprised if any councillor genuinely believed they could not appropriately dress themselves” using their own money.

“Councillors are paid $30,900 in meeting fees per year, plus annual allowances of $3400 for telecommunications and information technology,” he says. “I think it’s utterly ridiculous to expect ratepayers to pay for our clothing while rates continue to rise and pensioners are getting slugged more.”

He says “more than two” councillors have complained to him about his plan to wind back the expenses. He says they need a “reality check”.

Mayor Barry McKenna defends the allowance, saying councillors “have to look nice”, and they can’t turn up in casual clothes like jeans and a t-shirt.

“There is a standard of dress at council,” Cr McKenna says. He advises councillors to spend some on a “a good $200 to $300” paper shredder, instead of using it all on clothing.

The council failed to say, before the paper’s deadline, how much councillors had spent on clothing in the past two years, and what was bought.

by EMMIE DOWLING