KCC Cllrs 15% Pay Rise Will Raise Their Annual Bill to Over £2 million.
It was announced last week that KCC Councillors had voted to give themselves a 15% pay increase. Much to the annoyance of many in Kent.
48 councillors voted in support of the hike, 9 abstained and 13 voted against –including Conservatives who voted against their own party. This makes KCC councillors the highest paid councillors in the country.
It can be confirmed that the 15% increase is a “Global Increase”, across all allowances dispensed by KCC to elected members(see below). This in effect means that their basic allowance will rise from £12,805 to £14,725. Mr Carter (pictured far left) Leader of Kent County Council, special responsibility allowance will rise from £42,109 to £48,425. This means that all allowances (the above not being all the allowances members can claim) will rise above the £2 million mark for the first time ever, in the financial year 17/18.
Also KCC state at pg 37 of the Draft Statement of Accounts states that Cllrs received £1,750 million in allowances and expenses for the year 16/17.
Yet in paperwork handed to our public face by Mr Benjamin Watts KCC ‘s General Counsel the final total, Gross figure for all allowances and expenses was £1,883 million and Net £1,877 million, so a discrepancy of £127,000. That can be explained thus:
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The note in the accounts is to disclose what KCC have actually paid members. KCC also pays NI Employers contributions of £132,698. So the £1,750,000 paid to members (as per page 37 above) plusthe £133K NI, gets us to the £1,883,075 (Gross) below. And the difference between the gross and net figure of £6K is recoverable VAT.
It’s a shame that the Nasty Party Oinks didn’t put this bit of “troughery” in their manifestos, but then again Nasty Party candidates rarely tell the truth because they invariably fail to recognise basic truths in the first place.
And yet the Nasty Party keep being reelected… Perhaps their voters are amnesiacs who will have forgotten this disgraceful act of “troughery” in four years time.
The NI payments look a bit to high for my liking. As an Accountant for a local firm, I realise that Pensioners do not pay NI and many KCC Cllrs are pensioners. If you send me the details I’ll willingly do the NI contributions for free. Well done though another great story. Perhaps you should consider going into print. I think you’ll find there is a market for a paper like yours.
Not a good move considering the austerity measures sill in place, and the Public Sector limit of 1%. I am a Pensioner and look forward to a 15% increase in-line with the Local Government increase just voted.
If I do not qualify for this increase I would wish to know the reasons why, when funds are patently up for grabs. If I do not qualify then neither do our Councillors.
Mr. Corbyn seems, or claims, to have access to the Money Tree so perhaps he can shake it a little to allow the billions to rain down so that our worthy Councillors can take this obscene increase along with Pensioners, Public Sector workers and the like. Obviously subject to his election which is unlikely once the Kids have grown up a little.
On a further note, my Chums and I get together on a regular basis. We discuss many topics, most of which can be classed as ‘Quality Bollocks’. The similarities to Council are resounding, therefore we claim our 15% remuneration hike in-line with current trends.