Rubbing Salt Into The Wounds.

Do you think Cllrs are worth the money they get? If we look at the various things going on around our wonderful district, such as development in New Romney, the probable development of Princess Parade Hythe , the acquisition of the land in Otterpool Lane, the lorry park possibly at Stanford, there is a lot going on.

On Wednesday 13 Jan 2016 at the Civic Centre, SDC will vote on increasing their allowances because they are such a hard working lot. How do you think the vote will go?

No, you read that right Cllrs want to increase their allowances. An Independent Renumeration Panel state: “It proposes that these governance changes should be reflected by an increase in the basic allowance payable to all Councillors.”

“The recommended figure for the new basic allowance for all Councillors is £4,900 p.a..”

Cllrs currently receive £3,867, so an increase of a little over £1000 a year or £86.03 a month.

The Panel go onto say: It is noted that an increase to allowances at Shepway, based on an automatic link to the local government chief executives’ pay award negotiations, has been implemented in 2015 and that this is the first increase since April 2008 – despite inflationary pressures, the changing role of Councillors under ‘executive member’ arrangements and the recent reduction in the number of Councillors. The figures used in this report reflect this increase.

• So the Chief Executive gets a pay rise of 3.8%,

• Cllrs get a pay rise of 26.7%,

• SDC Officers below £50’000 are held at 1%.

One can probable relate to sense of disgruntlement of SDC officers lower down the pay scale.

Factor in the anger and growing resentment of you the local tax payers what with all the development going on in and around your area, the timing of this isn’t perfect. It would appear though that both the Top execs and the Cllrs of SDC do like to rub salt into the wounds.

Do you think they are going to vote for an increase? We think so, so do you probably.

Shepwayvox