Pay peanuts and you get monkeys, so they say.
In the case of elected members, that old adage serves to remind us of the importance of having appropriately capable people on our councils.
However, deciding how much councillors should be paid, or more precisely what their time is worth, has always been tricky.
There has long been something slightly incongruous about councillors setting their own allowances, and many of them are far from comfortable doing so.
So new State Government legislation that would take the decision out of councillors' hands has been welcomed by at least two Riverland councils.
Whatever the system eventually adopted, hopefully it can take into account the myriad variables between each council, and therefore the duties of each councillor.
Make no mistake, some councillors may well already be 'overpaid' and a small percentage would be happy to rock up to most monthly meetings and do little else in between.
But many more are working hard for their communities, and contributing a significant amount of hours on a regular basis.
Hopefully any remuneration tribunal that is established will come up with appropriate allowances to pay our councillors.
It won't be an easy job - and nor should it be.