Cr Tiley said councillors have been seeking superannuation for a long time so this will be seen as a good outcome by some.

"The decision will mean that Armidale Councillors will have put aside for them as superannuation around $2000, or 10 percent of a councillor's fee income per year," he said.

"Many councillors only serve one, or at most, two terms."

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Local Government NSW president Linda Scott said the peak body and its member councils had advocated fiercely for fair superannuation for mayors and councillors throughout her term in office.

"LGNSW has consistently argued that mayors and councillors should be entitled to receive superannuation, in line with every other Australian employee at work," Cr Scott said.

"It is beyond satisfying that the NSW Government has finally recognised the need for elected councillors to have the same superannuation rights as other women and men in the workforce.

"For too long people considering running for elected office in local government have been unable to do so unless they were independently wealthy.

"This reform will enable more people to consider running to be a mayor or councillor, and this is a welcome step forward."

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Cr Scott said she was 'thrilled' that LGNSW had been able to convince the government of the merits of their argument, and that the announcement comes ahead of the local government elections scheduled for later this year.

"Ensuring elected councillors receive fair superannuation will remove a very real disincentive to stand for elected office, especially for women," she said.

"Research shows that on average, women retire with 47% less superannuation than men, so introducing superannuation to local government will allow more women to consider running to be an elected leader.

"This is critically important at a time when only one in three elected representatives in NSW local governments are women."

However Cr Tiley said he questioned whether receiving superannuation benefits provides an extra incentive to run for council.

"I believe that a more substantial incentive for better quality nominations would be to raise councillor fees to a more realistic level," he said.

Cr Scott said modern councils are governance-style boards of significant influence, managing community assets of immense value for the public good.

"Introducing superannuation on these earnings is recognition of this commitment, and will help encourage the broadest cross-section of the community to stand for office," she said.

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