Councillors in York are set to vote themselves an 11 per cent pay rise. GAVIN AITCHISON outlines the issue and looks at the case for and against.


FOR

Paying a fair salary is essential in ensuring that the best candidates possible come forward, according to former councillors.

David Wilde, who was a councillor for many years before retiring last May, said: "Most people think councillors just have the odd meeting, but there's a whole lot of background work.

"It's difficult to hold down a job and it can inhibit promotion at work. I think councillors do deserve to get a reasonable payment."

He said an 11 per cent rise did sound high, but he pointed out: "If you compare with other countries, you see that councillors in Britain are very poorly recompensed.

Former councillor Peter Vaughan echoed Mr Wilde's comments.

He said: "The right rate is one way of ensuring we improve the quality of leadership provided by councillors, and to attract people to any responsible job in the city there has to be a review system that is followed.

"I am particularly anxious that pay is offered that helps to attract younger people to be councillors and to continue to attract people with a wider range of skills."


AGAINST

IF there is a tenable argument for an increase, then the timing is hardly great.

City of York Council is currently trying to work out how to plug a £1 million shortfall in its budget.

It has already asked residents to help identify possible savings.

The £94,000 increase may not seem massive at an authority with a budget of about £400 million.

But a similar amount is all it would take to maintain subsidies on some bus routes, or to avoid cuts in the library service. As Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, pointed out in The Press last week: "Most people are struggling with bigger and bigger council tax bills.

"They should not expect to fund higher expenses and allowances for councillors, especially when York council has a big deficit at the moment."


Decision follows report by panel

THE plans to increase councillors' pay follow a report by the council's Independent Remuneration Panel in November.

The four-person panel recommended major increases to all allowances in York, which would have cost the taxpayer an additional £151,000 a year. Superannuation would have taken the increase to £280,000.

All four party leaders on the council have subsequently drawn up their own proposals, costing the public purse a more modest £94,000 a year.

Councillors' basic allowance will go up from £6,300 to £7,000 but the special responsibility allowances for people in top jobs such as party leaders and executive posts are to be frozen. This contrasts with the recommendations of the panel, who called for sweeping increases.

The panel's calculations were based on an assumption that a backbench councillor would spend an average of two days a week representing their constituents.