Random checks on district councillors' expense claims have revealed hundreds of cases of abuse or non-compliance in the past two years.
The decades-old arrangement granting tax exemption for up to 50 per cent of the councillors' honorarium - a payment for professional services rendered nominally without charge - has also been questioned by the Audit Commission. Executive councillors and lawmakers are not given the same concession.
The watchdog also challenged the way some councillors use their offices for holding training classes and organising cheap local tours for their constituents.
District councillors are given an honorarium of $16,690 and operating expenditure of $16,010 each month. Annual expenditure for the 529 councillors will reach $211 million this year.
In the latest value-for-money probe, the watchdog found 354 improper claims during a random inspection of records held by nine of the 18 district councils between January 2002 and March this year.
At least 166 claims valued at a total of $223,000 were improperly reimbursed, including claims for IDD and mobile-phone roaming charges - not covered in the guidelines.
