The change came after the allowance paid to Assembly members for stationery, postage, mobile phones and the like was replaced last year by a $15,000 annual payment.

The new payment goes directly into their pay packets. However, if they want to avoid paying tax on the amount, it must not be used for political purposes, only for legitimate office expenditure, such as laptops, printing and postage.

The problem came when Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green wrote to politicians this year, telling them they must report their spending under the allowance to him.

He also said it would be included in the cap on spending in an election year. That begins on January 1.

Their returns are posted on the commission's website.

Only Liberal Vicki Dunne's return was missing after she requested an extension to the August deadline.

It is not clear how much of the spending relates to the communications allowance, but Labor's Chris Bourke has declared the most, spending more than $15,000 in the year. Next is the Liberal's Brendan Smyth with $14,600.

Spending under the former "discretionary office allowance" did not need to be declared to Mr Green, but needed to be approved by Assembly clerk Tom Duncan, who published it on the Assembly website.

Now, Attorney-General Simon Corbell is expected to introduce a change to the Electoral Act next week or in November so that spending under the new "communications allowance" no longer has to be declared to Mr Green (nor to Mr Duncan), and will not be included in the election year cap.

In September, the ACT Remuneration Tribunal clarified its ruling on the allowance, making it clear that it was to be used for Assembly-related business, not for party political material and not to request a vote or a donation.

Also this week, the tribunal granted Canberra's magistrates a 3 per cent pay rise to $342,210.

The chief magistrate now earns $382,338.

Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker had asked the pay authority to boost pay rates by 6 per cent, insisting magistrates should be closer to the pay of Supreme Court judges, who received $412,550.

While ACT magistrates are paid more than magistrates in any other jurisdiction, they receive less than district and county court judges elsewhere.

Ms Walker said they had a significantly wider role than magistrates interstate.

Magistrates' pay did not reflect the increase in the "breadth, diversity and complexity" of their work, she said, calling for magistrates to receive 85 per cent of a Supreme Court judges' pay.

The new pay rate puts magistrates at 83 per cent.

The tribunal didn't award a pay rise to Supreme Court judges, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and the director of public prosecutions.

Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White had told the tribunal his position should be paid the same as a Supreme Court judge.

His pay was left at $408,226, $4300 short.

However, members of several government boards won a 2 per cent pay rise.

The increase applies to the part-time members of 66 boards and advisory committees, in areas as diverse as the Public Art Panel, the Radiation Council, the Heritage Council and the Capital Metro Project Board.

Some are paid a fee per meeting day, in most cases $420. Others get an annual payment.

The biggest payments go to members of the Capital Metro Project Board, whose chairman receives $73,455 and other members $44,080, and the Sentence Administration Board ($73,515 for the chairman, $58,780 for the deputy and $720 a meeting for others).

The Gambling and Racing Commission Board members receive $23,515 and the chairman $48,475.

The Remuneration Tribunal set a new pay rate for the chief executive of the Canberra Institute of Technology, at a base pay of $285,000.