Cr Weyrich pleaded guilty to the charge at Deniliquin Local Court on Thursday, August 6, and was ordered to pay $2500.
The Mathoura-based councillor said he submitted the declaration a week late.
‘‘Every six months, we have to fill out a declaration to say if we received any gifts or accepted anything,’’ he said.
‘‘There was nothing to declare, it was just a week late.’’
He said he was surprised by the outcome.
‘‘The penalty was pretty severe, I thought, for something as minuscule as that,’’ he said.
‘‘In all the years I’ve been on council, I’ve never declared anything because no-one’s ever given me anything.’’
According to Cr Weyrich, the incident occurred three years ago in 2017-18.
‘‘I didn’t even know anything about it until the summons showed up in the mail, and ever since then I’ve been fine,’’ he said.
‘‘I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, I didn’t fight the charge and I fronted up to court.
‘‘I won’t do it again and haven’t done it since.’’
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