Only One Councillor Opts Out Of Pay Raise – Plus Expenses Revealed
Only one Wrexham Councillor has exercised their constitutional right to not take a pay rise, as we look at the £902,821.17 outlay in pay & expenses on Councillors in the last year.
51 councillors opted to take a 3.89% pay rise, while one has opted not to via a mechanism in the Council’s constitution. If the other councillors who received a basic salary did the same, the Council would have retained over £16,000.
Previously there has been much hand wringing over pay rise recommendations that ‘have’ to be adopted by the Council, with many saying they are begrudgingly taking the rise but will be donating the excess to charity.
Wrexham.com speculatively queried if any councillors had exercised the right that we had spotted under the constitution to forgo a pay rise by writing to the ‘proper officer’, the Council’s Head of Finance. We were told that a single Councillor had, however no identity was given.
In data released by Wrexham Council the basic pay for councillors is set to £13,175 , however one is still on the older rate of ‘just’ £12,681.
This data suggests that Liberal Democrat Councillor Alun Jenkins who represents Offa is the councillor in question. We emailed Mr Jenkins at the end of April for comment, as it appears he is the only one who understands or is aware of the constitution rule or is the only one who has chosen to exercise it. Sadly Mr Jenkins not replied.
A Council insider told us: “The process is simple, councillors can refuse all or part of a rise or any pay whatsoever. All it takes is a very simple letter or email to the Head of Finance, it is very straightforward.”
Other information is revealed in the yearly information release including travel expenses and general expenses on top of the salary payments made to councillors. These are often to reimburse councillors for costs incurred, aside from the normal provisions offered to them such as the Members Lounge, iPads, tea & occasionally biscuits, and internet connectivity.
There are only three councillors taking general unspecified expenses, listed as:
- JONES JH £34.90 (Councillor Hugh Jones)
- KELLY DL £3.70 (Councillor David Kelly)
- DUTTON RJ OBE £1.50 (Councillor Bob Dutton)
There is no detail given if the expenses are single items or grouped.
The travel expenses table is longer, however compared to previous years the figures are lower. Previously we have written how one councillor exceeded £6500 in travel expenses over four years.
| Elected Member | Travel |
|---|---|
| ROBERTS JM | £1,467.45 |
| DUTTON RJ OBE | £1,095.89 |
| KENYON L | £871.20 |
| LOWE J | £700.65 |
| EVANS T | £556.20 |
| ROBERTS I | £523.80 |
| ROGERS N | £392.40 |
| KELLY DL | £279.00 |
| TAYLOR DR | £279.00 |
| JONES JH | £237.55 |
| BITHELL DA | £222.30 |
| WILLIAMS M | £185.70 |
| ROGERS GA | £91.20 |
We have ranked the salary and expense data as an overall figure, combining all details given and have ranked the top seven below. We have chosen the top seven , as there is a large gap to the eighth as it decreases from £28k to £22k.
| Elected Member | Basic Salary | Senior Salary | Travel | Expenses | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROGERS N | £0 | £47,500.00 | £392.40 | £0 | £48,015.30 |
| PRITCHARD M | £0 | £33,460.00 | £0 | £0 | £33,460.00 |
| DUTTON RJ OBE | £0 | £28,780.00 | £1,095.89 | £1.50 | £29,877.39 |
| JONES JH | £0 | £28,780.00 | £237.55 | £34.90 | £29,052.45 |
| WILLIAMS M | £0 | £28,780.00 | £185.70 | £0 | £28,965.70 |
| GRIFFITHS DJ | £0 | £28,780.00 | £0 | £0 | £28,780.00 |
| KING MC OBE | £0 | £28,780.00 | £0 | £0 | £28,780.00 |
The full table of this years data release is below, so you can discover what your local Councillor gets and has had an accepted claim for.
Overall this represents an outlay by Wrexham Council of £902,821.17 for the 2013-2014 year.
| Elected Member | Basic Salary | Senior Salary | Travel | Expenses | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAILEY AC | £11,262.53 | £3,180.49 | £0 | £0 | £14,443.01 |
| BALDWIN WE | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| BITHELL DA | £13,175.00 | £0 | £222.30 | £0 | £13,397.30 |
| BITHELL ID MBE | £0 | £20,685.49 | £0 | £0 | £20,685.49 |
| BLACKWELL P | £0 | £21,910.00 | £0 | £0 | £21,910.00 |
| BOLAND TJ | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| CAMERON BP | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| CHILDS KL | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| DAVIES DL | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| DUTTON RJ OBE | £0 | £28,780.00 | £1,095.89 | £1.50 | £29,877.39 |
| EDWARDS MJ | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| EDWARDS TA | £0 | £21,910.00 | £0 | £0 | £21,910.00 |
| EVANS A | £1,912.50 | £18,729.48 | £0 | £0 | £20,641.98 |
| EVANS T | £13,175.00 | £0 | £556.20 | £0 | £13,731.20 |
| GREGORY AK | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| GRIFFITHS DJ | £0 | £28,780.00 | £0 | £0 | £28,780.00 |
| GRIFFITHS GW | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| HUGHES K | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| JEFFARES P | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| JENKINS RA | £12,681.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £12,681.00 |
| JONES JH | £0 | £28,780.00 | £237.55 | £34.90 | £29,052.45 |
| JONES OA | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| KELLY JA KSG | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| KELLY DL | £0 | £21,910.00 | £279.00 | £3.70 | £22,192.70 |
| KENYON L | £13,175.00 | £0 | £871.20 | £0 | £14,046.20 |
| KING MC OBE | £0 | £28,780.00 | £0 | £0 | £28,780.00 |
| LOWE G | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| LOWE J | £13,175.00 | £0 | £700.65 | £0 | £13,875.65 |
| MCCANN B | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| MORRIS MG | £0 | £21,910.00 | £0 | £0 | £21,910.00 |
| O’TOOLE CGT | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| OWENS MA | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| PEMBERTON PH | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| PHILLIPS JC | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| POWELL C | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| PRINCE RD | £11,262.53 | £3,180.48 | £0 | £0 | £14,443.01 |
| PRITCHARD JD | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| PRITCHARD M | £0 | £33,460.00 | £0 | £0 | £33,460.00 |
| ROBERTS I | £11,262.53 | £3,102.82 | £523.80 | £0 | £14,889.15 |
| ROBERTS JM | £13,175.00 | £0 | £1,467.45 | £0 | £14,642.45 |
| ROGERS GA | £13,175.00 | £0 | £91.20 | £0 | £13,200.20 |
| ROGERS N | £0 | £47,500.00 | £392.40 | £0 | £48,015.30 |
| ROGERS RP | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| ROXBURGH BF | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| SKELLAND JR | £0 | £21,910.00 | £0 | £0 | £21,910.00 |
| TAYLOR DR | £1,912.50 | £18,729.49 | £279.00 | £0 | £20,920.99 |
| TAYLOR M | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| WILLIAMS AJ | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| WILLIAMS M | £0 | £28,780.00 | £185.70 | £0 | £28,965.70 |
| WILSON S | £0 | £21,910.00 | £0 | £0 | £21,910.00 |
| WRIGHT DW | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| WYNN PR | £13,175.00 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £13,175.00 |
| TOTALS: | £471,893.59 | £423,928.25 | £6,902 | £40 | £902,821.17 |
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