Tories to slash Devon council perks
Special payments for aides to senior councillors are to be axed in a bid to end the culture of members of the ruling party topping up their income with extra paid roles.
The basic allowance for all councillors is also being frozen while the new council leader and his deputy will turn the clock back on their pay to the level five years ago.
The cost-cutting is part of the Conservative drive to make savings with public money without affecting frontline services.
It follows the Tories' landslide victory in the county council elections on June 4, which saw the Liberal Democrats' 20-year rule come to an abrupt end.
Last night Coun John Hart, the new Conservative council leader, said: "I am now responsible for local people's hard-earned council tax and I want to get the most from every single penny.
"That means getting tough on waste and cutting administrative costs wherever we can."
The first round of cuts will save £80,000-a-year, worth £320,000 until the next council elections in 2013.
First to go were allowances worth thousands of pounds paid to six Lib-Dem councillors to "support" the eight Lib-Dem executive members who ran the council. The roles were likened to the junior MPs paid to support Government ministers and were surplus to requirements. Half of the savings come from scrapping the posts.
An over-arching scrutiny committee – which came with extra payments for the chairman and vice-chairman – has also been axed, amid concerns it was duplicating the work of the three existing committees on children and young people, health and environment.
Two other "special allowances" have been merged into one as part of the changes announced less than two weeks after the Tories secured control with 41 of the 62 seats on the county council.
As part of the changes, a freeze is to be imposed on all councillors' basic allowances, worth £10,970-a-year.
The new leadership is also taking a pay cut to the level of allowances in 2005. Coun Hart will see his income drop from the £27,425 paid to his Lib-Dem predecessor Brian Greenslade to £25,000 – the amount paid to Coun Greenslade when he won the elections in 2005. In total, with the basic allowance paid to all councillors, the leader will now receive £35,970.
Coun Hart's deputy, John Clatworthy, will receive £20,000 instead of the £21,940 paid to his Lib-Dem opposite number up until polling day this month. His allowances will therefore total £30,970.
Lib-Dem Coun Greenslade came under fire in 2005 when he pushed through sharp increases in allowances, which saw the leader's total package increase from £27,555 to £35,000.
The Tories have also launched a "thorough review" into the future of all bodies funded from the public purse while there is also likely to be a reduction in the number of national and international organisations that Devon County Council is signed up to.
Coun Hart said: "We promised the people of Devon we would ensure they got value for money.
"The best place to start to show them we mean business is with the cost of actually administering the council and the allowances paid to councillors themselves.
"I do not believe that we need another raft of councillors to support them who can then claim more expenses on top of their basic allowances," he said.
"I want us to lead by example and demonstrate to people across Devon that we are here to serve them."
Nationally, the Conservatives have repeatedly claimed to be able to find savings in local government. Shadow chancellor George Osborne has pledged to freeze council tax bills for two years in a "deal" between the Government and councils.
Savings would be made by slashing the number of spin doctors and management consultants running up huge Whitehall bills while town halls would also have to find savings.
Comment on this story