The amount the councillors and the mayor are paid is determined by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal. For Regional Rural Councils, such as Dubbo, it was determined the maximum they could received for the next financial year was $20,280 and $44,250 for the mayor.

Dubbo Regional mayor Ben Shields said some might say $20,000 for the councillors was too much, others might say it was too little.

"It's one of those things that some councillors work very hard, some councillors don't work very hard, some councillors put a lot of effort into performing for the media, some councillors put a lot of effort into being the bookworm and reading every report with a fine tooth comb and meeting with staff over and over again," Cr Shields said.

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Every year the councillors vote on their pay and Cr Shields said it was only fair that like most businesses, their wage went up by inflation.

"It's one of those things that it always floats around in the circles of disgruntled people out there saying councillors should be happy to work for free," he said.

Narromine Shire Council moved a motion that meant councillors would not be paid for meetings they didn't attend. However, Cr Shields has rejected introducing a similar idea in Dubbo.

Cr Shields said a lot of what the local government representatives did was behind-the-scenes. The mayor said attending council meetings twice a month was the smallest part of a councillor's role.

"A good councillor is meeting with staff all the time, the expert council employees, and making sure that their decisions and what they're pushing through council is right," the mayor said.

The minimum a councillor in Dubbo would be able to receive was $9190, while for the mayor it would be $19,580.