‘Undervalued’ councillors deserve raise
AS COUNCIL TAX RISES BY 3.95%, COUNCILLORS VOTE FOR A 2.5% RISE IN THEIR ALLOWANCE
TAXPAYERS will be “baffled” by city councillors’ decision to give themselves £26,000 worth of pay rises just weeks ahead of another massive round of cuts to public services, according to campaigners.
Newcastle City Council representatives voted on Wednesday night to increase their basic allowance by £225 to £9,000-a-year, a 2.5% rise.
And, while the decision was approved with no votes against or any voices of dissent in the council chamber, the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group has said the council should “aim to cut out wasteful spending before asking residents to dig deeper into their pockets”.
The pay rise is, however, the first that councillors in the city have agreed to in a decade, having also previously cut their salaries by 5% in 2013.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It always baffles taxpayers when councils plead poverty and put up council tax with one hand, but then award pay rises with the other.
“A struggling council should always aim to cut out wasteful spending before asking residents to dig deeper into their pockets.”
Joyce McCarty, the Labour council’s deputy leader, said on Wednesday that Newcastle is “still among the lowest councils for allowances in the North East”, while Lib Dem opposition leader Anita Lower added that she felt councillors were “undervalued”.
Alongside changes in extra payments given to councillors who sit on some civic centre committees, the total extra cost to taxpayers will be £26,175.
By 2022, the council’s budget will have been slashed by £327m in 12 years, in which time hundreds of local authority jobs have been lost, and the latest £60m worth of cuts are set to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Over the next three years, 100 council staff are expected to lose their jobs.
Other cuts could see disabled drivers forced to pay for parking, council tax rise by 3.95%, and library opening hours slashed.
A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: “Members agreed to cut their allowances when austerity first started and they have been frozen ever since. Allowances remain below precut levels despite this increase - the first approved increase in 10 years.
“Allowances must be reviewed annually by an independent panel and it was this panel that recommended the changes.
“Even with the increase, the basic allowance remains the third lowest in the North East, while the leader and deputy leader receive the lowest Special Responsibility Allowance by some distance for their roles compared to neighbouring authorities.”
Public sector trade union Unison did not respond to requests for a comment.