£850k cost for Councillors – Value for money?
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April 19, 2012 at 6:16 pm #53558
RobParticipantFollowing on from our story – Councillor Costs Revealed | Wrexham.com
Do people on the forums think they get ‘value for money’ from Councillors?
April 19, 2012 at 6:38 pm #55916
Wrexham PC RepairsParticipant@Rob 700 wrote:
Following on from our story – Councillor Costs Revealed | Wrexham.com
Do people on the forums think they get ‘value for money’ from Councillors?
With regards to my Councillor then it’s a big fat NO. I think that the elected Plaid Cymru councillors are worth every single penny that they receive, there sadly isn’t a Plaid Cymru candidate in my ward though.
April 19, 2012 at 6:47 pm #55910
LiamParticipantThe bit that shocked me about that was how much some councillors are claiming for petrol. I know it’s hardly cheap, but I fail to see how you can invoice for £1,500 for carrying out council business.
April 20, 2012 at 12:43 pm #55913
wrexviewParticipantWhy do some County Councils have a much lower basic allowance paid to Councillors? Cambridge County Council for example have a basic allowance of £7610, compared to £12,681 in Wrexham. The difference is £5071 per Councillor, per year. When you multiply this by 52, the number of Councillors on the Council, it adds up to £263,692 per year and a massive £1,054768 over a four year Council term. The functions performed by the Councillor serving on these Councils must be broadly similar so why the huge gap in renumeration?
April 20, 2012 at 2:57 pm #55917
Arfon JonesParticipantThe basic allowance in Wrecsam is similar across Wales, it is now set by an Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales which frankly is long overdue. The big differences across Wales is the Special Responsibilty Allowance paid to Cabinet/Board Members who lead on certain areas like Environment, Housing, Education etc. In Wrecsam the SRA is about £6,000 which the Cllr gets on top of their allowance which then brings it up to £19,000. But if you take the SRA in Ynys Mon where Commissioners have gone in because it was judged to be a failing authority, the Lead Members used to get £17,000 SRA per year bringing their total allowance to nearly £40,000! (Says it all!)
Perhaps the reason for lower allowances in Cambridgeshire County Council is that Cambs Council does not undertake the whole remit of what Welsh Unitary Authorities do because there are 2 layers of local government in Cambridgeshire, the County Council and 5 District Council also delivering services and probably the Cllrs in those districts also get an allowance.
It was similar in Wales before 1996, when you had Clwyd County Council and the district councils of Wrexham Maelor, Glyndwr, Delyn and was it Alyn and Deeside? underneath the county council.
Hope this answers your question.
April 21, 2012 at 3:19 pm #55918
Arfon JonesParticipantThe bit that shocked me about that was how much some councillors are claiming for petrol. I know it’s hardly cheap, but I fail to see how you can invoice for £1,500 for carrying out council business.
Liam – Bear in mind that one of the biggest travelling claims is by the Councillor for Glyn Ceiriog, is it fair therefore to compare the claim of someone who lives considerable distance from the Guildhall with someone who say lives in Acton.
April 22, 2012 at 12:02 pm #55914
wrexviewParticipantIt seems that very few of our amply renumerated sitting Councillors have made the effort to reply to the Wrexham.com questions so far.
April 22, 2012 at 2:59 pm #55911
RobParticipant@wrexview 711 wrote:
It seems that very few of our amply renumerated sitting Councillors have made the effort to reply to the Wrexham.com questions so far.
We have had a couple more answers in but closing it off shortly.
We are aware of a couple of reasons, perhaps barriers and er ‘excuses’ which we will try and mention in our ’roundup’.
There has been a couple of murmuring of lack of IT skills as well , although we did offer a paper based reply route if required. It will be interesting to see if those have had , or will have the ‘free laptop’ that I think councillors get! :D
April 22, 2012 at 3:59 pm #55919
Arfon JonesParticipantWe all have laptops if we want them, personally I use web access to council via my own PC. The council also provides training in IT and the use of laptops.
April 27, 2012 at 4:02 pm #55921
Hugh JordanParticipant@Arfon Jones 710 wrote:
one of the biggest travelling claims is by the Councillor for Glyn Ceiriog
See? Vote for me instead, and the council will save 3 miles on each journey!
But really, if I do get elected next week, i would love to be able to get to the Guildhall and back on public transport, which I can use free of charge.
Sadly, the “service” will not permit this.
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