An attempt to strip the City of Joondalup’s mayor of their council-funded vehicle from the next mayoral term has been thwarted by the council.
The motion from Cr Rebecca Pizzey at last week’s council meeting argued the dedicated vehicle was an unnecessary expense at a time when households were facing “unprecedented cost-of-living pressures”.
Under the city’s elected members’ entitlements policy, the mayor is provided with a vehicle to support travel to official, civic and ceremonial duties, rather than claiming travel reimbursements like councillors.
The current mayor drives a 2025 Toyota RAV4 purchased by the city for $48,999.65, with estimated annual operating costs of about $6000.
Cr Pizzey's Argument
Cr Pizzey said she believed the “contemporary transport landscape” had changed significantly and the dedicated vehicle could no longer be justified, arguing it placed an “excessive burden on ratepayers in difficult economic times”.
She suggested the mayor could instead use buses, trains, taxis or rideshare services for official travel, or their own private vehicle.
“The City of Joondalup benefits from comprehensive public transport infrastructure, including multiple train stations on the Joondalup line and extensive bus networks,” Cr Pizzey said in her motion.
“Additionally, on-demand transport services such as Uber and taxi services are readily accessible throughout the region.
“The existing entitlement framework already provides for mileage reimbursement when elected members use their private vehicles.”
Council Analysis and Debate
However, the motion was lost after it was revealed that given the volume of travel a mayor typically undertakes on behalf of the city, shifting to a mileage reimbursement model would likely cost ratepayers significantly more than maintaining the current entitlement.
“Whilst it would be possible for the mayor to claim mileage reimbursement when using a private vehicle for city business and/or use public transportation, this may create an administrative burden through processing of claims,” city officers said in a report.
Though it would not apply during his current term, mayor Daniel Kingston also defended the arrangement, pointing out the city had corporate insurance arrangements and bought fleet vehicles below market rate.
“I don’t actually see that this is a circumstance where the ratepayers are going to be better off by reimbursing,” Mr Kingston said.
“The previous mayor had a personal usage percentage, with private usage percentage set at around 7.29 per cent. He travelled approximately 101,000 kilometres, which therefore had the council business usage at around 93,000 kilometres.
“You multiply that by the reimbursement rate of 67 cents. This previous mayor on a reimbursement model would have been reimbursed $60,000 to nearly $63,000 over the four years, which was actually more than the vehicle itself.”
Council Meeting Context
The issue was debated for around 20 minutes in a council meeting that ran for more than five hours, which also included the city adopting its 2026-27 budget with a 6.5 per cent rate rise and several other motions relating to elected members’ policy.
“I can’t imagine the mayor of the city of Joondalup rocking up in an Uber, or a ride share, or an electric scooter to a meeting, so I won’t be supportive of this,” Cr Rohan O’Neill said in opposition to the change.
Cr Pizzey referenced the council’s recent decision to raise rates during her pitch to scrap the entitlement.
“We made decisions that affect household budgets across the city at a time when cost-of-living pressure is real and is being felt,” she said.
“When we ask ratepayers to accept a budget, we owe them an obligation to account for every dollar we spend on their behalf. This motion is a part of that obligation.”
