Councillors claim nearly £66k expenses last year

EDEL KENEALY

South Lanarkshire councillors claimed almost £66,000 in expenses last year.

Most claims made were for travel costs - including more than £44,000 in mileage - while £10,940 was paid by the council for phone and IT costs.

Councillors claimed £1718 more in expenses last year than they did in 2017-18.

Combined expenses and salaries paid to councillors in 2018-19 increased by almost £22,000.

In total, £1.307 million was paid to councillors last year - less than in three of the previous four years.

Leader of the council and SNP group, Councillor John Ross, earned more than any other elected member with a beforetax salary of £39,655.

Basic pay for the majority of councillors was £16,994, however leaders of opposition groups, committee chairpersons and the provost and depute provost all earned over £20,000.

The total wage bill for councillors in Rutherglen and Cambuslang amounted to £240,275, with the majority of councillors receiving the basic salary.

However, councillors Alistair Fulton, Katy Loudon and John Bradley received £25,793 as chairman of the planning committee, education committee and social work committee respectively.

Councillor Nugent meanwhile received £20,293 as chairwoman of the Rutherglen and Cambuslang Area Committee and Water Brogan £23,645 as deputy leader of the Labour Party and opposition.

Cllrs Robert Brown (Rutherglen South), Katy Loudon (Cambuslang East), Jim McLachlan (Hamilton North and East) and Jim Wardhaugh (East

Kilbride East) claimed the least amount of expenses at £118.

That was just £1 less than councillors Janine Calikes (Rutherglen Central and North), Margaret Cowie (Rutherglen South), Geri Gray (East Kilbride South) and Provost Ian McAllan.

Provost McAllan was one of 30 councillors who did not claim any mileage, however the council spent £8826.44 on the Provost’s civic car.

Most expenses are claimed by councillors and reimbursed by the council, however IT/phone and training/ conference costs are paid directly by the council and included in councillors’ total expenses.

In Rutherglen and Cambuslang the total claimed for IT and telephone costs ranged from £118 to £184.

Across the local authority training/ conference costs came to £8354 and an additional £1519 was reimbursed for other travel costs.

Paul Manning, executive director of finance and corporate resources at South Lanarkshire Council said: “Elected members have a wide and varied role to play - from attending formal committee meetings in Hamilton to going to meetings and events with constituents and local groups across the South Lanarkshire area.

“Additionally, depending upon their responsibilities, councillors may also attend Scotland-wide groups.

“Reasonable travelling and sustenance expenses are provided to elected members in order that they can fulfil their role as effectively as possible.

“The amount of members’ remuneration and expenses and the arrangements for paying them are governed by legislation.

“Amendments made to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force on April 1, 2015.”