Expenses for Councillors and Officers
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Posts
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Whenever expenses for people in public office there is an outcry– it’s not long since we had Mps ‘Duck Houses’.
The examples quoted for Wrexham are said within the current Policy so nothing has been done wrong- HOWEVER is there not a moral issue in this case. Both Clr Dutton and Dr Paterson are local residents do they not feel that attendance at an event such as Remembrance Day should be done as a resident and feel privileged to be there in an official capacity as well to represent colleague and residents. If they were not a Councillor or Officer would they nit attend these types of functions.
Have Wrexham.com looked the expenses for the other senior Directors and Heads of Service that also attend these events- Ms Field, Mr Robinson, Mr Owen and Mr Coxon usually attend.
Alls what about the expenses for attending the Mayors Ball- travel to social events where they have a choice- how many officers and Councillors claim travel and ticket costs as expenses!The process used for this was more a speculative request on several things, not all expenses related as will come out over the next few days, as the process does not seem to have been used like this before.
I would imagine that others will follow suit this time next year meaning that a range of things gets looked at more thoroughly including the you mention.
I do not know why this has not been done before, but with the story being picked up regionally and making frontpages I would imagine it wont just be Wrexham.com sat in a room rifling through paperwork for a few hours next time around.
For the record I know of people, who before after and during the time they were Councillors, attended the Remembrance Day service as they feel it is a duty in the wider non-paid sense.
As stated by Dylan, nothing has been done that contravenes the terms and conditions of current policy so I find it quite iniquitous that Wrexham.com has found the time and made the effort to delve into the minutiae to find something that amounts to a figure of less than £10.
To titillate the senses, it even promises more of the same.
Come on Wrexham.com, if it wasn’t for little snippets of what can best be described as useless information and irrelevant planning application, you would be lost for something to write about.
If it wasn’t for the forums, it would be a very dull place.
One thing I am certain of though, Wrexham.com will never be in the running for the Paul Foot award for investigative journalism.It may be in line with the T&Cs but that doesn’t make it morally right.
Most of the expenses claimed when the main scandal first became public knowledge were within the set T&Cs.
Yet as we all learned the T&Cs were being abused as no one was looking at what was being claimed.I’m glad to know that someone is taking the time to keep an eye on what is being claimed back by public officials, especially at a time when more and more council services are being stopped due to cost savings.
After just reading the article on councillors expenses, I noticed that according to the mileage figures shown, they should be claiming for 600018 miles not 18 miles, I think someone may have missed out on a few bob there!
This is all small fry. The ruling group on the Council increased their membership on the executive committee recently which has cost us local taxpayers much more than this.
Dutton ex chief exec (golden handshake/council pension plus salary for being a councillor) so why not claim for things like this also.
Paterson current chief exec on a very good salary must need the money.
And should they not also be putting in a claim for wear and tear on the shoe leather!
Come on people common sense should prevail, oh wait a minute this is Wrexham council where in most cases common sense goes out of the window.Other areas were officials make money on their expenses is claiming 100% of the value of a meal up to the limits permitted even though if they were at home they would be paying for food. the first x amount should not be claimable as they would have to spend this anyway.
Car sharing to meetings seems non existent with Council officers and Members all turning up in their own cars even though they pass each others door to attend the same venue.
Defining a job as being an essential car user also brings in extra financial perks.
Just because someone claims within their respective financial regs it does raise many questions about the amounts and cost effectiveness of some of the actions.Until today, I didn’t realise that there were so many little green eyed monsters roaming around Wrexham!
Jealousy and envy are terrible things. If I don’t get it, why should anybody else attitude stinks.
Disgraceful!!!!![quote quote=99614]Until today, I didn’t realise that there were so many little green eyed monsters roaming around Wrexham!
Jealousy and envy are terrible things. If I don’t get it, why should anybody else attitude stinks.
Disgraceful!!!!![/quote]
Are you a councillor BenjaminM? You seem to the sticking up for those poor unfortunates at every opportunity.Fortunately we have forums like this where anyone can express an opinion, and if you are a councillor you should be hard skinned enough to either take it on the chin or debate the issue, not to attack anyone who has an opposing opinion.
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