Councillors turn down a pay cut

COUNCILLORS at Warrington have rejected the advice of an independent panel that would have cut their basic pay but increased allowances for most executive board members.
Instead, the council has voted for an alternative package which will cost £24,000 less but result in members receiving a five per cent increase.
They have also resolved to try and come up with a more satisfactory way of setting councillors’ allowances and expenses by this time next year.
The independent panel had recommended a basic allowance for councillors of £6,614 – a cut of 10 per cent compared with last year’s £7,350.
But they recommended increases for councillors with special responsibilities, which includes executive board members and committee chairmen.
Portfolio holders – that is, the executive board members – would have had rises of £6,733 and the deputy leader a rise of £3,859.
Total cost of the package would have been £668,151 – an increase of 9.5 per cent.
But council leader Ian Marks (pictured) said the panel’s recommendations were not being accepted because they were too expensive.
He said the council did not accept that the basic members’ allowance should be reduced by 10 per cent, nor the “massive shift” in allowances from ordinary members to executive board members.
Coun Marks pointed out, however, that members received no increase last year and in any case received significantly lower allowances than other comparable councils.
The alternative proposal – which had cross party support – was for one year only and it was important that the council come to a better resolution of the issue in good time for the next annual meeting.