Pay increases for Hambleton’s local authority leaders will be limited to half of that recommended by an independent panel, councillors have decided.
Following a lengthy debate over councillors’ allowances at a full meeting of Hambleton District Council, members voted to raise pay for the council’s leader and deputy leader to £30,000 and £15,000, respectively.
An Independent Remuneration Panel, which all local authorities are required to establish to advise on allowances for councillors, had proposed councillors Mark Robson and Peter Wilkinson be recognised for their roles’ demands, as well as their “achievement and effort”.
After the meeting, Cllr Robson said councillors had agreed members’ pay awards should be decided locally, rather than by a national scale.
He said: “We try to promote that all our staff are paid locally. The fact that unions choose not to is up to them.”
Following a series of interviews with members, the panel’s had recommended members of the authority’s planning committee be given an extra financial reward, due to the volume of work involved.
The panel’s report had stated: “The lead theme that emerged during all interviews was how heavily tasked and committed the council’s planning committee was in executing its day-to-day business.”
Members approved that the ten planning committee members be awarded allowances of £1,500, its chairman £9,075 and its vice-chairman £6,050.
The councillors can also claim a basic allowance of £6,050, which stands at £1,700 more than it did five years ago.
When asked why he believed the panel had come to the conclusions, Councillor Robson said: “That’s their prerogative. We are one of the lowest council tax authorities in the country, we are not cutting services and are dealing with multi-million pound projects. The workload is massive.
“Even if the council does approve these increases each individual member chooses whether to take it or not.”
While neighbouring Richmondshire District Council has a significantly smaller budget, its leader was awarded a total allowance of £8,679 last year, while the leader of Darlington Borough Council, which has a significantly larger budget than Hambleton, was given 30,959 in allowances last year.
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