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Saturday, February 04 2012

Council expenses revealed

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Medway Council logo

by Alan Watkins

awatkins@thekmgroup.co.uk

Councillors claimed more than £750,000 from Medway taxpayers for doing their job last year.

Highest paid was the leader Cllr Rodney Chambers. He received £35,235.68.

The 10 cabinet members - which includes the leader and his deputy - get £20,183.64 plus travelling and food costs.

Only the Mayor, Cllr David Car until March 31, received more. His civic allowances gave him a total of £21,256.96. including £129.30 for out of pocket expenses.

For more on this story visit our Tales from Gun Wharf blog.

Yvette asked in our comments section "What exactly does special responsibilities cover?" The answer - which is fixed by an independent panel, publicly reported and equally publicly discussed is listed below the following expenses table:

Medway Council member expenses : 2008-2009

Name	Basic allowance	Special responsibility allowance	Travel and subsistence	Total received
Cllr Rodney Chambers - Con	8,935.80	26,245.08	64.80	35,245.68
Cllr Alan Jarrett - Con	8,935.80	20,621.16	528.40	30,085.36
Cllr David Carr - Con	8,935.80	12,191.86	129.30	21,256.96
Cllr Howard Doe - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	794.70	20,978.34
Cllr Janice Bamber - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	598.00	20,781.64
Cllr David Wildey - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	546.39	20,730.03
Cllr Phil Filmer - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	425.60	20,609.24
Cllr Jane Chitty - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	244.80	20,428.44
Cllr Tom Mason - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	54.40	20,238.04
Cllr Les Wicks - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	30.40	20,214.04
Cllr Reh Chishti - Con	8,935.80	11,247.84	0. 00	20,183.64
Cllr Ken Bamber - Con	8,935.80	10,569.81	548.00	20,053.61
Cllr Roy Hunter - Con	8,935.80	9,373.20	475.16	18,784.16
Cllr David Royle - Con	8,935.80	9,373.20	285.20	18,594.20
Cllr Paul Godwin - Lab	8,935.80	9,352.64	192.10	18,480.54
Cllr David Brake - Con	8,935.80	8,798.72	136.40	17,870.92
Cllr Diane Chambers - Con	8,935.80	7,693.68	108.00	16,737.48
Cllr Glyn Griffiths - Lab	8,935.80	7,498.56	0.00	16,434.36
Cllr Ted Baker - Con	8,935.80	6,143.13	0.00	15,078.93
Cllr Bill Esterson - Lab	8,935.80	5,623.92	37.60	14,597.32
Cllr Nicholas Brice - Con	8,935.80	5,623.92	0.00	14,559.72
Cllr Teresa Murray - Lab	8,935.80	5,623.92	0.00	14,559.72
Cllr Geoff Juby - Lib	8,935.80	4,686.60	148.29	13,770.69
Cllr Nick Bowler - Lab	8,935.80	4,448.20	54.80	13,438.80
Cllr Sue Haydock - Con	8,935.80	3,749.28	262.10	12,947.18
Cllr Sylvia Griffin - Con	8,935.80	3,749.28	181.00	12,866.08
Cllr Peter Hicks - Con	8,935.80	3,879.36	0.00	12,815.16
Cllr Barry Kemp - Con	8,935.80	3,463.85	189.60	12,589.25
Cllr Mike O'Brien - Con	8,935.80	3,398.81	236.00	12,570.61
Cllr Val Goulden - Lab	8,935.80	1,387.10	0.00	10,322.90
Cllr Jane Etheridge - Con	8,935.80	1,346.85	0.00	10,282.65
Cllr Tony Goulden - Lab	8,935.80	660.93	205.20	9,801.93
Cllr Dickie Andrews - Con	8,935.80	130.08	279.60	9,345.48
Cllr Steve Kearney - Lib	8,935.80	32.52	250.40	9,218.72
Cllr Ian Burt - Ind	8,935.80	195.12	13.00	9,143.92
Cllr Maureen Ruparel - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	207.10	9,142.90
Cllr Herbie Crack - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	200.00	9,135.80
Cllr Julie Shaw - Lab	8,935.80	0.00	195.20	9,131.00
Cllr Matt Bright - Con	8,935.80	0.00	185.20	9,121.00
Cllr Vaughan Hewett - Con	8,935.80	0.00	155.20	9,091.00
Cllr Steve Hubbard - Lab	8,935.80	0.00	119.20	9,055.00
Cllr Paul Harriott - Lab	8,935.80	97.56	11.20	9,044.56
Cllr Pat Gulvin - Con	8,935.80	0.00	100.80	9,036.60
Cllr Cathy Sutton - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	85.60	9,021.40
Cllr Dennis Macfarlane - Lab	8,935.80	64.17	0.00	8,999.57
Cllr John Avey - Con	8,935.80	0.00	63.65	8,999.45
Cllr Sheila Kearney - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	56.56	8,992.36
Cllr Andy Stamp - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	25.60	8,961.40
Cllr Craig Mackinlay - Con	8,935.80	0.00	19.20	8,955.00
Cllr Diana Smith - Lib	8,935.80	0.00	19.10	8,954.90
Cllr Dorte Gilry - Lab	8,935.80	0.00	2.40	8,938.20
Cllr Trevor Clarke * - Con	8,935.80	0.00	0.00	8,935.80
Cllr Raymond Maisey - Con	8,935.80	0.00	0.00	8,935.80
Cllr Vince Maple - Lab	8,935.80	0.00	0.00	8,935.80
Cllr Mark Reckless - Con	8,935.80	0.00	0.00	8,935.80

* Expenses not disclosed by council

Special responsibilities cover details

Special allowances	Number entitled to allowance	Payment
Basic allowance	55	£8,935.80
Leader of the Council	1	£26,245.08
Deputy Leader and finance portfolio holder	1	£20,621.16
Cabinet portfolio holders	8	£11,247.84
Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committees	4	£9,373.20
Labour Group Leader	1	£9,373.20
Liberal Democrat Leader	1	£4,686.60
Labour spokesmen, O&S committees	4	£5,623.92
Chairman, Development Control Committee	1	£7,498.56
Vice chairmen of O&S Committees	4	£3,749.29
Labour Group Deputy Leader	1	£3,749.29
Conservative Group Whip	1	£1,874.64
Labour Group Whip	1	£937.32
Chairman, Audit Committee	1	£5,623.92
Chairman, Licensing and Safety Committee	1	£32.50*
Mayor's allowance	1	£13,578.92
Deputy Mayor's allowance	1	£6,842.09
Vice chairman, Development Control Committee	1	£3,749.28
Labour Group spokesman, Development Control Committee	1	£3,749.28
Attendance at Licensing Panel hearings	-	£32.50*

Tuesday, June 02 2009

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Comments (12)

Comments closed

Chris Irvine wrote:

Actually

I think instead of trying to claim some kind of 'exclusive' on revealing these claims, I think Alan Watkins might do better to point out that this information was freely and publicly available on the Medway Council website prior to this story being published, and it was actually highlighted (by myself) on the Strood Conservatives website last week (28th May) before it turned up on here and in the paper.

04 Jun 2009 1:13 AM

Report Abuse
andy wrote:

what about the other half?

Well if you think this is bad you'd better sit down for a real shocker. Has anyone inquired into the expense activities of the directors and managers at medway council? Alan please request breakdown accounts. I bet the Cllr's will appear to be good value for money next to them.

03 Jun 2009 6:01 PM

Report Abuse
yvette wrote:

confused

Ok the penny has now dropped. So for being Leader of the Council for instance you get your basic allowance of £8935 plus another(special) allowance of £26,000. Is this on top of your salary for being Leader of the Council? Because if it is why should you get a special allowance for doing a job for which you are already being highly paid? Can someone elaborate please?

03 Jun 2009 3:37 PM

Report Abuse
Tom Harris wrote:

councillors expenses

The amount equates to nearly 1000 individual council tax bills for a year. Considering the vast majority of the work is done by paid staff, this equates to a complete waste of tax payers money. Take alook around Medway and see for yourself the filth and decay and wasted money this council presides over.

03 Jun 2009 1:25 PM

Report Abuse
Tracy, Chatham wrote:

Sorry Alan

But again you seem to be getting expenses mixed up with allowances. If my understanding of this is correct (and please feel free to correct me if I'm in error) allowances are set independently and paid just like a wage and councillors are taxed on that and pay NI same as anyone else would. The expenses part of the table is set out as 'Travel and Subsistence' above, and that is where I got my figure from if you add all of the claims together. You need to clarify this. Allowances are not the same as expenses, or have I missed something?

Personally I would hope all our councillors are doing what they do because they want to make a difference in their communities but one has to wonder sometimes. Maybe I'm just being naive because I never seem to see my councillors until theres an election on and then they disappear again.

03 Jun 2009 1:03 PM

Report Abuse
MarySue wrote:

Councillor's Expenses

I've had a look at the payments figures as suggested by Mr Watkins and still we are not given a breakdown of what the 'special responsibilites' allowances actually consist of. We only have a total figure and not much else to make a judgment upon. Is this a one off allowance or is it part of the salary these people are paid? We have a problem that's been finally exposed at higer government levels so now how about levelling with the public and providing the evidence that no one is on the fiddle locally so we can at least see that not everyone is in politics for what they can get out of it for themselves.

03 Jun 2009 12:16 PM

Report Abuse
Alan Watkins wrote:

council expenses

Hi Tracey, I don't know from where you got the basic allowance of £8465.25. From 2006 to 2008 it was £8486.63 a year, but increased to £8696.67, and more recently to £8,935.80. It is due to go up again later this year in line with local government officers' pay. The council approved that at 0.5 per cent. The figures (and the payments to all councillors for the past four years) are published on the council's website at http://www.medway.gov.uk/index/council/councillor/83262.htm

03 Jun 2009 11:38 AM

Report Abuse
yvette wrote:

Special responsibilities?

What exactly does "special responsibilities"cover? Can we have a more in depth breakdown please? seeing as we are the mugs who are paying!

02 Jun 2009 4:57 PM

Report Abuse
Tracy, Chatham wrote:

Wages, Not Expenses!

Actually Alan, despite the muckraking headline which just smacks of trying to cash in on what the Telegraph has been doing, I can see quite clearly from your table that the majority of the costs incurred come from the standard remuneration. The actual expenses cost to the taxpayer is actually £8465.25 which is somewhat different to your headline grabbing claim. Are you saying that Councillors should work for free?

02 Jun 2009 4:19 PM

Report Abuse
tom harris wrote:

councillors expenses

what a waste of money. The councillors are useless. Cllr Esterton stated to me he was unable to do anything as he is a n opposition councillor so why is he claiming money for basically not doing a job.AS for Cllr mckinlay he never relies to emails and presume the man doesnt even know whats going on in Medway.

02 Jun 2009 3:52 PM

Report Abuse
Datch wrote:

legal mugging

So for an amount between £8935 and £35245 you get to make life as difficult as possible for the rest of us. It's a nice little earner isn't it? I bet they don't pay tax or national insurance on it either. Where's Wat Tyler when you need him?

02 Jun 2009 2:48 PM

Report Abuse
kim wrote:

its all so wrong

Councillors claimed more than £750,000 from Medway taxpayers for doing their job last year.
nice to know they are living well, by living off the poor,if one person claims 1p more thn they should of the dhss they are in court like a flash.
but the Councillors have a law just for them.
and to think we voted these people in to look after our town.
never mind eh! they will be fine in thier nice houses we have all paid for.

02 Jun 2009 2:28 PM

Report Abuse

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Council expenses revealed

Actually

what about the other half?

confused

councillors expenses

Sorry Alan

Councillor's Expenses