LEADERS of political groups will no longer receive a special allowance after a councillor said that "taxpayers should not be funding political posts".
Cornwall Council met for the final time before the election on May 2 on Tuesday and one of the main items on the agenda was a review of special responsibility allowances (SRAs).
The council's independent remuneration panel had recommended that SRAs should be increased – costing an extra £26,238.76 a year – but the council's officers put forward alternative recommendations to cut allowances.
Changes put forward would save the council £9,772.83 a year by reducing the amount paid to councillors including Cabinet members and committee chairmen.
It came after the council performed a U-turn recently when it decided to scrap a planned increase in the basic allowance paid to councillors which remains at £12,128.40 a year.
Included in the cuts to SRAs are a reduction in the leader's allowance from £22,532.53 to £22,000 and for Cabinet members to drop from £16,700.51 to £15,000.
The council voted in favour of an amendment that no councillor should be allowed to claim more than one SRA and that they can choose which one they receive.
Another amendment was tabled to increase the allowance paid to the chairman of the strategic planning committee to £8,000 but was lost on a vote with 38 in favour and 40 against.
Independent councillor Andrew Wallis put forward the amendment to cut allowances paid to group leaders at County Hall.
Group leaders are currently paid an SRA of £300 each per year plus an extra £55 per group member – costing the council £7,745 a year.
Mr Wallis said: "One of the most upsetting parts of this is paying political group leaders an allowance."We shouldn't use taxpayers' money to fund political posts. The political leader parts of it should be removed from the SRA scheme.
"It should be up to the groups to fund it themselves if they want to pay their leader an allowance."
The amendment to scrap SRAs for group leaders was supported by the majority of councillors.
However, while the move to reduce SRAs was supported by the council some councillors were concerned.
Independent councillor Steve Eva said: "We can go through this list and trim bits off but every time we do that we diminish the responsibility of the chairs and vice chairs of our committees."
Conservative councillor Morwenna Williams added: "To reduce the allowances is not an incentive to the people involved."
Cornwall Council met for the final time before the election on May 2 on Tuesday and one of the main items on the agenda was a review of special responsibility allowances (SRAs).
The council's independent remuneration panel had recommended that SRAs should be increased – costing an extra £26,238.76 a year – but the council's officers put forward alternative recommendations to cut allowances.
Changes put forward would save the council £9,772.83 a year by reducing the amount paid to councillors including Cabinet members and committee chairmen.
It came after the council performed a U-turn recently when it decided to scrap a planned increase in the basic allowance paid to councillors which remains at £12,128.40 a year.
Included in the cuts to SRAs are a reduction in the leader's allowance from £22,532.53 to £22,000 and for Cabinet members to drop from £16,700.51 to £15,000.
The council voted in favour of an amendment that no councillor should be allowed to claim more than one SRA and that they can choose which one they receive.
Another amendment was tabled to increase the allowance paid to the chairman of the strategic planning committee to £8,000 but was lost on a vote with 38 in favour and 40 against.
Independent councillor Andrew Wallis put forward the amendment to cut allowances paid to group leaders at County Hall.
Group leaders are currently paid an SRA of £300 each per year plus an extra £55 per group member – costing the council £7,745 a year.
Mr Wallis said: "One of the most upsetting parts of this is paying political group leaders an allowance."We shouldn't use taxpayers' money to fund political posts. The political leader parts of it should be removed from the SRA scheme.
"It should be up to the groups to fund it themselves if they want to pay their leader an allowance."
The amendment to scrap SRAs for group leaders was supported by the majority of councillors.
However, while the move to reduce SRAs was supported by the council some councillors were concerned.
Independent councillor Steve Eva said: "We can go through this list and trim bits off but every time we do that we diminish the responsibility of the chairs and vice chairs of our committees."
Conservative councillor Morwenna Williams added: "To reduce the allowances is not an incentive to the people involved."
