@scapegoat said:
She refuses to even speak to anyone who challenges her, but nevertheless accepts a free strata levy payment per year – because of all the work she does.

Well, I would start right there – if she is being give a levy holiday agreed in advance at the AGM, the Owners Corp is breaking the law.  If she is getting one retrospectively, I would flag the idea that this should be reviewed more closely as it seems to be a salary rather than an ex gratia payment (so again it is breaking the law).

Literally tens of  thousands of people do a lot of work for their committees with no thought of payment.  What’s so special about your scheme?  If she doesn’t want to do it for free, let her stop.

Regarding your plan to limit terms, I can see the appeal for dealing with rusted-on control freaks, but it would also wipe out the limited supply of committed and experienced committee members.  

Better to deal with the problem head on – propose that you cut the payments on the basis that the committee is breaking the law and then call for a new chair when she blows up. 

As JT says an OC can authorise a committee person to be granted a payment (honorarium) in recognition of the services that they have performed throughout the preceding year. It cannot be authorised in advance.

This authorisation should come from a Motion on the Agenda of the AGM and that is approved at an AGM. It would be interesting to find out who is proposing the Motions that are placed on the AGM Agenda that ask the OC to authorise this payment? Is it the Chairperson herself? I would have thought that it would, at the very least, be unseemly for the Chairperson to nominate her own reward for service.

Is there any Explanatory Material being presented with the Motion which seeks to justify the payment? How was the amount determined? Is it reasonable under the circumstances, or is it excessive?

This type of reward for service payment is generally unusual as people who nominate for a position on the committee usually do so without expectation of fee or reward.

Any honorariums would be paid from the Admin Fund.

The relevant section of the Act is below:

STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 46

Payment of officers of owners corporation

46 PAYMENT OF OFFICERS OF OWNERS CORPORATION

An owners corporation may pay to a person who is an officer of the owners corporation or another member of the strata committee of the owners corporation an amount determined by the owners corporation at an annual general meeting in recognition of services performed by the person for the owners corporation in the period since the last annual general meeting.

As a further complication to this issue …. what type of work is the Chairperson doing that she is being reimbursed for? Is it merely admin work as part of her role as Chairperson or is she also doing additional voluntary work such as gardening, putting out the bins etc. If she in then this additional work should be first approved by the OC and no payment must be received for it. If payment is given then it may affect your insurance policy if the Chairperson becomes injured whilst undertaking this voluntary work.

Look Up Strata says this:  ‘You cannot receive any reimbursement for the voluntary work you are performing. This may be in the form of monetary payments, ‘gifts’ or even discounts off your Owners Corporation fees. If any form of payment is received, the work can no longer be defined as voluntary, and you will not be covered under the Personal Accident section of the policy if you become injured.’

https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/volunteering-strata-property-personal-accident-cover/

scapegoat – The committee is not permitted to make a decision that is outside of their responsibility. See [s36(3)(a)] below. The decision made by the committee is invalid as it is in breach of the Act. 

NB: Does your scheme have a Strata Manager? If so then most of the Treasurer’s duties are generally fulfilled by the Strata Manager e.g. preparation of Budgets etc. What duties does the Treasurer do that justifies her honorarium? 

Perhaps you can propose your own Motion about the Honorarium at the next General Meeting (either an EGM or AGM)? You would need to submit it as early as possible to avoid it missing the deadlines. Your Explanatory Material may be derived from some the suggestions that others have made on this thread.

Instead of 1/4 of the levies you could propose making it a much lower amount e.g. $200.00, or a dinner voucher at the local RSL Club(?). Then your Motion will be added to the committee’s honorarium motion. At the GM the Honorarium Motion will become a Motion with Alternatives. The OC will then to get vote on either the lower amount that you proposed – or the higher amount that the committee proposed. Given a choice your OC may chose to adopt your alternative. 

There should be no expectation from the Treasurer that they should be granted an honorarium. That is not the purpose of an honorarium.

STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 36 Functions of strata committee

STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 36

Functions of strata committee

36 FUNCTIONS OF STRATA COMMITTEE

(1) A strata committee has the functions conferred on it by or under this or any other Act.

(2) A decision of a strata committee is taken to be the decision of the owners corporation. However, in the event of a disagreement between the owners corporation and the strata committee, the decision of the owners corporation prevails.

(3) The following decisions cannot be made by the strata committee:

(a) a decision that is required by or under any Act to be made by the owners corporation by unanimous resolution or special resolution or in general meeting,

(b) a decision on any matter or type of matter that the owners corporation has determined in general meeting is to be decided only by the owners corporation in general meeting.

(4) An owners corporation may in general meeting continue to exercise all or any of the functionsconferred on it by this Act or the by-laws even though a strata committee holds office.

Re the method of “payment” of this honorarium by forgiving a quarter of levies, I don’t think you can do that anyway.

The strata levies are a debt owed by each owner, and must be paid on a quarterly basis.  If a levy is overdue, then 10% interest applies.  The owners can resolve at a general meeting that a contribution is to bear no interest.  The owners can also resolve at a general meeting to enter into a payment plan either generally or in respect of a specific lot, in respect of overdue contributions, and that plan can only go for 12 months.

As far as I can see from the Act there is no power of the owners to allow someone to not pay their levies or part of their levies, or as it has been termed, grant a “levy holiday”.  The levies must be paid each quarter.  The only way you could “pay” this person is by actually paying them, provided the requirements for making that payment were met, i.e. by a resolution for a period that has gone.  The person still has to pay their levies, payment of a fee or honorarium is a separate matter, and an auditor would be likely to raise that.  If you have a budget and you are meant to be receiving a certain amount of money from the owners each year, that is what should be showing in the accounts.  

There are instances where an order can be given that an owner doesn’t have to pay a special levy, but that is in very particular circumstances, and the owners don’t decide that, the tribunal does.

More generally this arrangement seems highly irregular, and you shouldn’t be paying her anything.  I suggest you get an auditor in to look at the accounts and if you can’t get this lady off the Committee at least try and get her out as an office bearer, which can be easier.

If this were the ACT, then this would not be legal. Here levies are payable for each unit in proportion to unit entitlements. To levy according to some other method requires an unopposed resolution of a general meeting.