The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Councillors vote for 27% pay rise
An independent panel recommendation has seen the Conservative party increase the basic allowances for council leaders. Joel Lamy looks at what this overall cost of £186,000 to Peterborough City Council could have been used to achieve and asks those whose
Councillors at cash-strapped Peterborough City Council have voted themselves a 27 per cent pay increase. The decision will cost city taxpayers £186,000 a year after a recommendation by an independent panel.
The ruling Conservative group have voted for a pay rise for all councillors which will cost cash-strapped Peterborough City Council £186,000 a year.
The Conservatives voted through the recommendations made by an independent panel for members to have their basic allowances increased from £7,962 a year to £10,100, a rise of nearly 27 per cent.
Senior Tories will also trouser further increases in allowances for ‘special responsibilities’ suchasbeing cabinet members or scrutiny committee chairs.
Councillor John Holdich, who told the Peterborough Telegraph that he would not vote for the increase, will see his salary as council leader increase from £21,497.85 to £30,300 to go alongside his basic allowance.
He said :“It was my personal view I gave you, but that’s not the group’s view.”
Asked if he was still against the pay rise, despite voting for it, he answered: “Personally, yes.”
Last year, the council had to make savings of £24 million after its government grant was slashed again.
Councillors have not had a pay rise since 2009, and deputy leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald, whose pay packet will rise from £16,123 to £20,201, said: “Thepanelhave determined what our value is as councillors.
“For t hose who voted against it, how many are taking the extra allowance? If they feel that strongly they should give the money back.”
Opposition councillors voted against the large pay rise and instead tried to agree a motion proposed by Cllr Chris Ash, leader of the Peterborough Independent Forum, for their allowances to rise at the same rate as council officers’ pay, but that was voted down by the Conservatives.
Last week, the PT emailed every councillor about their extra allowances and none said they would not accept the additional money or give it all away.
Some said they would look to give some away to causes in their ward, while others said it would be unfair for other councillors to get more money despite not ‘working as hard.’
The rise in allowances, which begins in April 2017, was agreed at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday evening last weekat the Town Hall. But because councillors had spent four hours discussing other matters it was ruled that there was no time to debate the controversial topic, thus members went straight to a vote. Speaking straight after the meeting, Labourgroup leader Cllr Mohammed Jamil said: “I’m shocked they would vote en mas se for a pay rise, especially when they are cutting £20 million from the budget.
“But I’m not surprised what this Tory group does.”
The Liberal Democrats were criticised for walking out of the meeting and therefore abstaining, as they did not believe they should have a say in their own pay.
Cllr Nick Sandford, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, defended his seven councillors and criticised the rise in special responsibility allowances. He said: “There was a strong case from the panel for members to get an increase to recruit good people as councillors.
“Personally I will accept what the council has decided even though we did not have a part in deciding it.”
Cllr John Whitby, UKIP group leader, asked how the councillors who voted for the pay rise could look their constituents in the face.
Cllr Ashsaid: “That kind of pay rise in one lump does not look good. It does make me feel guilty about accepting it.”
Cllr John Fox, Werrington First group leader, said: “It’s the decision of the council and I’m not happy with it. I think we get paid enough, but I’m not going to turn it down and give it to charity because there are councillors getting this who do not work as hard.
“The fact is the W er ring ton First councillors at the meeting voted against this because wedonotagree with it.”
Cllr Ed Murphy, Labour and Co-operative member, said: “This is shameful - the same councillors that let us down spending £ 1 million putting homeless people in the Travelodge and charged more council tax than the budget needed last year have made many mistakes costing millions.
“No way should they give themselves such an excessive pay ri s e costing t ens of thousands of pounds. I shall look for every opportunity to revoke this decision and actually reduce the amountof money being spent on special allowances to our failing councillors.”
Cllr Holdich added: “I think i t’s appalling the Liberal Democrats walked out and abdicated t heir responsibility.”
The council leader said some councillors are in the Town Hall “all day, every day.” He also said he would give some of his pay rise away to groups in his ward of Glinton and Castor and that the pay rise “sounds a lot, but after tax it’s not.”
The independent panel in makingits recommendations noted that councillors who had been interviewed said the existing basic allowance appeared relatively low in relation tocomparablecouncils.
The panel’s report noted thatfromtheinformationthat had been provided, councillors spentatleast20hoursper week on council business.
Members also said when interviewed that the time spent doing the role “had a detrimental effect on the number and range of people prepared to come forward to stand for election.”