Cornwall Councillors to vote on whether to give themselves bumper 35% pay rise (From This is The West Country)
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Cornwall Councillors to vote on whether to give themselves bumper 35% pay rise
10:19am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Cornwall
Against a backdrop of austerity, job losses, privatisation, wage freezes and calls to cut costs, Cornwall councillors will vote on whether to give themselves a bumper 35 per cent pay rise at next week’s full council meeting.
The recommendation is that pay rises from £12,148 to £16,400 and that mileage allowances increase in line with the HMRC guidelines to 45p a mile.
This would take the total amount of cash spent on basic allowances alone from £1,491,744 to £2,017,200. Further payments are also made depending on roles and responsibilities, taking the final bill significantly higher.
Councillors will also be able to claim £6 for breakfast, £9 for lunch and £12.95 for dinner, while they can claim £77.72, for hotel stays outside major cities, £100 per night in major cities, and £130 per night for hotel stays in London.
The report to go before councillors says: “The Panel acknowledges that the basic allowance recommended represents a fairly significant increase on their previous recommendation of £14,600 but, in their view, this properly reflects the nature of the commitment required and the full scope of member responsibilities. The increase equates to an increase of just under 11 per cent on the previous recommendation. It also considers that this increase adequately covers any incidental costs to ensure that members do not suffer financial loss.
“In coming to its conclusion, the Panel recognised that a basic allowance based on an expected time commitment of 35 hours would equate to an amount of £22,653 per annum.
The panel’s recommendation that the basic allowance be set at £16,200 per annum would be implemented for the newly elected council from May 2013.
*Are your wages frozen, do you think councillors should enjoy an inflation busting 35 per cent rise?
Let us know by commenting below or get in touch by emailing jonathan.millar@packetseries.co.uk, or via Twitter at @thepacket.
Comments(3)
Lanty Slee
says...
10:38pm Thu 18 Oct 12
If central government has taught the provinces any one lesson over the past two years, it's that you can dole out any amount of misery to the proles...
And we will just bend over and take it.
I never thought I'd say this - but we need to be more like the French.
steve eva
says...
5:26pm Tue 23 Oct 12
I did support the amendment on the lesser increase so that those who find it hard can stand for Council but as I have already said I will myself not accept it. there will be those who have voted against this increase who will have to make up their mind whether or not they follow my stance as saying you oppose an increase and taking it are two different things.
quayfee says...
1:30pm Thu 18 Oct 12
CC are going through period at the moment where they will fall or remain through their actions. With all of the negative publicity over the privatization plan, surely they cannot be naive enough to think that the county's population will tolerate this kind of increase.