The Office of Local Government received 11 code of conduct reports for Shoalhaven City Council, according to recently announced figures.
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The cost in dealing with the 11 complaints was $13,420.
Compared to other councils in NSW, Shoalhaven rates reasonably well but coming in at number nine is still in the top 10.
Lismore council came in at number one with 52 code of conduct reports which cost $82,614 to deal with, while nearby Wingecarribee Council was one spot higher on the list than Shoalhaven.
Wingecarribee Council's 12 complaints cost $81,000 to investigate.
Meanwhile, NSW Labor has urged the NSW Government to conduct an urgent review of the model code of conduct for councils following a large spike in the number of complaints and the cost to deal with them in the past two years.
Figures released by the Office of Local Government show the number of code of conduct complaints rose by 63 per cent from 2017/18 (241) to 2019/20 (395).
The cost in dealing with the complaints rose by 66 per cent in the same period - from $958,463 to $1,593,416.
Shadow Minister for Local Government, Greg Warren, said a major overhaul of the Model Code of Conduct was needed to ensure the system was efficient, effective and not used for political point-scoring purposes at the expense of councils and their communities.
"When one council is spending in excess of $200,000 in one year to simply deal with code of conduct complaints, serious questions must be asked," Mr Warren said.
"There is no doubt that some people use code of conduct as a way to score cheap political points at a significant cost to the council and their community.
"A lot of time, effort and expense goes into investigating these complaints but the reality is the investigation often results in very little action taken.
"It's councils and their communities who are counting the cost of an ineffective and inefficient Model Code of Conduct."
