Councillors in county ‘are not getting paid enough’

A GROUP of leading business figures have warned of a decline in the calibre of councillors in North Yorkshire if their recommendations to give elected council members a second allowance rise in two years are rejected.

An Independent Remuneration Panel examining pay for members of North Yorkshire County Council has concluded councillors’ basic allowance should be increased by 2.6 per cent to keep in line with other councils.

The panel said increasing the basic allowance to £9,885, which would cost the taxpayer £18,000 a year, was justified “to retain the balance between public duty and a realistic recompense for the time given up, commitment and responsibility to undertake the role”.

A spokesman for the panel said it “recognised that this was not an insignificant amount at a time of financial stringency, but we believed that this was affordable, justified and necessary…” after finding councillors were paid more at 13 of the 16 comparable county councils.

The total financial implication of the recommendations for the council’s budget for the coming year would be £30,042, which represents less than 0.01 per cent of the council’s net budget.

The four-member remuneration panel was led by former regional manager of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors John Thompson.