Kent County Council Councillors Cost Over £6.5 million in Four Years.
In the next few weeks you will no doubt receive endless Kent County Council election leaflets from all the Political Parties. 81 Councillors will be elected across 72 electoral divisions on Thursday May 4 th 2017. The previous election took place in 2013.
Kent County Council is currently controlled by the Conservative group and the political composition is:
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47 Conservative Councillors
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15 UKIP Councillors
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12 Labour Councillors
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7 Liberal Democrat Councillors
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2 Independents Group
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1 Independents
Since May 2013 through to Jan 2017 all Kent County Council Cllrs (there have been a few by elections) have cost the Kent Taxpayer £6,632,951.
In Feb 2017 KCC Cllrs voted to raise their share on your Council tax bill by 4% for 2017/18.
So we have put together a chart showing who has earned what over their four years. All councillors receive a basic allowance £12,805. Some elected members receive an additional allowance for any special responsibility that they might have as a member of the council, such as being a Cabinet Member or a committee chairman.
Elected members are allowed to claim travelling expenses & allowances for their official duties at the rates set by HMRC for business travel. Currently these rates are 45p for the first 10,000miles and 25p per mile thereafter.
Just like any other salary all allowances are subject to tax and national insurance and elected members have no other provision to claim from the council, other than mileage.
We have singled out just one KCC member who is a Shepway District Council Cllr as well, as is Cllr Frank McKenna, but he it appears is aginst the Lorry Park, is against Otterpool Park and against building on Princes Parade unlike Cllr Susan Carey. These are her expenses and allowances for the last four years.
We understand that Cllr Carey along is standing for re-election.
Have KCC Cllrs been value for money? Well that’s for you to decide come Thursday May 4th 2017.
Shepwayvox
I might not be the best but of the ones that have served a full four years, I am the cheapest!
Well done… And anyone who wants to give the Rancour Party a kicking in the ballots is all right to me.
Let’s hope that the self employed use this opportunity to consider(a) the NIC rise and (b) the proposed quarterly self assessment tax returns where they’ll be paying tax on a quarterly basis (with no regard to seasonal cashflow) and decide to give the Nasty Party the damn good kicking they deserve.
I wonder if that nice Mr Putin will give us a hand too?
Meldrew, I enjoy, and mostly agree with your comments. On the minus side I disagree with your terminology as regards our ruling party. You could, perhaps, re-name them ‘The sadly lacking party’ or ‘The under-performing party’ but in either case this is what we have got and any opposition is sadly not up to the job, nor will be for a considerable time.
Labour?, shot to bits. Ukip, no-longer relevant post Brexit. Lib-dem, who?. Greens, still learning.
Keep posting Meldrew, I will read you every time and enjoy what I read.
The HMRC mileage allowance takes in an element of depreciation. Where this is mileage related it is sound. However it goes beyond this and takes-in age depreciation calculations.
Are our elected choices buying cars just to carry-out their duties? Or did they have transportation anyway which was depreciating at the given rate. Should they be compensated for this as opposed to you and I. I think not. This element of the HMRC calculation should be removed or our Council should consider removing it from their allowance payments.
Holding your breath would be against medical advice!