27 May - Councillor numbers down 29%. Total Special Allowances up
Updating the list of Councillors jobs and what they are paid is not my
favourite occupation because Bexley Council does not publish a simple list that can be copied, it
is necessary to dodge around between more than one document to get all the required information. As cutting and
pasting a load of code from last year is the only practical way forward the
danger is that I will leave a bit of 2017 in the 2018 list and someone will be
credited with a job they no longer have.
A lot of checking is required especially when I see things like the 2018
payment to the Chairman of the Licensing Committee is £2,991 and my 2018 list
recorded £8,802. I feared a mistake but the higher figure is confirmed in the Council’s May
2017 Agenda. What is going on there?
Payment for the General Purposes Chairman which was £1,000 last year has
been effectively abolished as that role is now combined with Audit the pay for
which has not gone up, except for the 2% across the board increase.
But looks can be deceptive, there’s an additional payment to Labour Members and
my calculations say Special Allowances have gone up from £217,480 to £222,579.
Anyone care to check the 2017 and 2018 tables shown below?
A few other things stood out like a sore thumb.
What has Councillor Cheryl Bacon done to upset her boss? Last year she had both a Chairman and
a Vice-Chairman’s job but now she has nothing. Did her husband mount a leadership challenge perhaps?
Newcomers Richard Diment and Adam Wildman picked up two Vice-Chairmanships and a
Chairman between them; no experience whatsoever but already favourites with the top brass.
The other two newcomers, Howard Jackson and Sue Gower MBE get nothing.
The obvious assumption is that the first two were happy to play
the Leader’s
game of sham questions and the other two weren’t.
Special Allowances 2017.
Special Allowances 2018.
Note: Only one allowance may be paid to any one Councillor.