Councillors vote against allowance increase
CORNWALL councillors have rejected an independent panel's proposal to increase allowances by more than £2,000.
A lengthy debate at County Hall, Truro, yesterday saw members vote against the recommendation of the Independent Remuneration Panel to increase basic allowances to £14,600.
They voted to keep it at the current rate of £12,128.40. Panel chairman Albert Lampey said that the level of allowances recommended was fair for the work councillors do.
The council has the hardest task in coming to a decision.
Council leader Alec Robertson said councillors could not justify giving themselves an increase.
He said: "We all know that people are losing their jobs and we know that with budget cuts, we are trying to protect front-line services. An increase is just unacceptable."
Four-year term
Lib Dem group leader, Doris Ansari, said they agreed with the move to freeze allowances but recommended they be frozen for the four-year term of the council.
However, Mebyon Kernow leader, Cllr Dick Cole, said any decision made on allowances would be influenced by the fact the General Election is on the horizon and that "politics has taken front stage".
Independent member Andrew Wallis argued that setting too low a rate would discourage the next generation from getting involved in local government.
2 Comments
by Unconvinced, St.Austell
Tuesday, January 19 2010, 7:05PM
“What's the chance that the proposed increase was never really on the cards, so that some positive spin could be attached to the ever-sinking Cornwall Council.
Interesting that there's an election looming, and when it comes to the Cornwall Council elections, had the increase gone through, how many Councillors would still be in post?
With most pay rises frozen, or 0.3 - 0.5% at most, how dare they even consider the proposed 33% increase. Even when the report is reconsidered again in 12 months according to news reports, they should not receive any more increase than the rest of us are forced to accept. If they don't like it, they can always get off the gravy-train”
by will, helston
Tuesday, January 19 2010, 5:44PM
“they should be paid for the ammount of work they do.
why should someone who does 5hrs a week get the same as someone who puts in 40+ hrs.
time to get rid of the councillors that are there for the ride and have people who want to do the job and pay them for what they do”