Councillors’ £1.8m wage bill set to be frozen
mekmgroup.co.uk COUNTY councillors will be taking a pay freeze this year after an independent review recommended there should be no increase in their allowances.
All parties on the council were expected to back the freeze at a meeting yesterday night (Thursday).
It means all 84 councillors who were elected on May 5 will continue to receive £12,805 by way of their basic allowance for the year.
Special responsibility payments given to councillors in key roles, paid on top of their basic sum, will also be frozen.
This means Conservative cabinet members will continue to be paid £27,370 each, plus their basic allowance.
The Conservative leader of the county council Paul Carter will be eligible for £42,109, in addition to the £12,805 basic allowance.
In a report, the independent remuneration panel concluded that neither an increase or decrease [in allowances] would be appropriate at the current time.”
However, the panel told KCC to curb the number of members being paid special responsibility allowances, saying too many qualify for them.
Review
It said extra payments made to the chairmen and vice chairman of the authority’s locality boards, which were set up two years ago, should be scrapped.
Including these meant 70% of all councillors qualified for some kind of extra money. The future of the locality boards is now under review.
In other changes, Cllr Roger Latchford, leader of the new 17-strong opposition UKIP group at County Hall, will be paid an allowance of £6,316 and be given £500 for each shadow cabinet member.
Both the Labour and Liberal Democrat group leaders will also receive £6,316 and a further £500 to give to anyone with extra responsibilities.
Altogether, this means nearly £36,000 will be spent on opposition group payments.
In the latest available figures for 2011-12, allowances paid to the council’s 84 members amounted to £1.66m, with the basic allowance accounting for £1.07m of that.
A further £580,000 was spent on special responsibility allowances.
The overall bill was £1.8m. Under the new arrangements, the overall bill for allowances is expected to fall by about £84,000. DANCERS packed out the Hazlitt Arts Centre every week for classes that are tailored for all abilities.
Waltzing to English barn dances are covered.
Anne Stout, 80, of Tilefields in Hollingbourne, who has been going to them for two years, said: “It’s such fun and I am so thankful for all of the patience they show in teaching us. It gives a lot of happiness to 40 people week in week out.”
Karen Sweeney, who runs the classes with her husband John, said every member gets to try out every routine.
Sessions are on Tuesdays at The Exchange Studio in the Hazlitt Arts Centre from 2pm to 3.30pm and cost £4.
For more information contact 01233 625362 or visit www.contrafusion. co.uk