Karratha councillors to fly in comfort as council decides to reimburse extra leg-room upgrades on long flights

Councillors will now fly in more comfort as the City of Karratha decides to reimburse them for upgraded airplane seat tickets on long flights. Karratha council has changed its CG19 Councillor Travel and Accommodation Expenses Policy to allow councillors to upgrade to extra leg-room seats on flights over five hours. Karratha Mayor Peter Long said the changes reflected the fact councillors often had to take long haul flights across the country. “Some of our councillors occasionally do long trips. If you fly from Karratha to Brisbane you can be sitting for seven or eight hours,” Cr Long said. “If there is an aircraft journey over five hours we allow councillors to upgrade, it’s still a regular seat, (but) to some of the wider seats or to some the exit rows, which are a little bit more expensive.” The other change to CG19 is that councillors no longer need to file receipts on essential company purchases below $20. “This year we introduced that you can spend up to $20 on food and other essentials without having to supply receipts,” Cr Long said. “We did that because the actual administration (cost) of paying for $5 parking and $6 cup of coffee is just so high that it’s actually not worth it. “It’s only $20 but we thought that that would probably save us money in the long run.” The City of Karratha Travel and Accommodation Expenses Policy is available to view online.