The Local Government Inspectorate has found the Central Goldfields Shire, Macedon Ranges Shire and Mount Alexander Shire were among 13 which had not done so by August.

The inspectorate's report lays the blame for the "concerning" state of affairs on the laws themselves, with widespread confusion throughout the local government sector when and why council staff must publicly declare personal interests.

Councils are supposed to publish information on councillor and certain staff members' interests online following disclosures that happen twice every year.

More news: Greater Bendigo records 20 new cases of COVID-19

That can include details on shares, businesses and significant debts. The idea is to increase transparency and stop potential conflicts of interest emerging.

The inspectorate "would have expected" all councils to have published two sets of summaries on their website shortly after they were due last March.

All 13 councils had already published an "initial" set of returns that were needed within a few months of 2020's local government elections and the inspectorate was not suggesting they were in breach of laws or were hiding anything.

The laws themselves did not stipulate a timeline for information to be published on council websites, the inspectorate found.

Macedon Ranges council told the Advertiser that it had not put details online because of an oversight caused by staff turnover and the situation was corrected as soon as it became apparent.

The Mount Alexander and Central Goldfields Shires have been approached for comment.

More news: Bendigo's 30,000 parcels a week jeopardised as Australia Post strikes loom

The inspectorate found that many of the state's councils were also confused about whose interests needed to be declared, especially when it came to non-elected council officers.

Some councils published "a few" officers' interests. One published 333.

Decisions on whose interests needed to be included depended on each council chief executive's discretion, the inspectorate found.

"We found that some CEOs only nominated their executive teams while others nominated every council staff member with the authority to spend council funds," it said.

Inspectors also found it difficult to find some councils' summaries and had trouble comparing them all, since they used a myriad of different formats to display information.

The same report found that 51 per cent of councillors did not complete at least one return in line with requirements set out by law, between 2016 and 2020.

That included failing to disclose all private interests or to submit them on time.

The inspectorate made a raft of recommendations to improve laws, oversight and to educate councils about transparency requirements.

Regulator Local Government Victoria is currently considering all 14 recommendations.

A government spokesperson said all councillors and senior council staff must comply with the Local Government Act.

"Personal interest returns are vital to transparency and confidence in decision-making processes, and those who do not fill them out risk a fine of up to $10,904.40," they said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: