Westbury Town Councillors have refused to set aside £20,000 to fund councillor allowances, despite approving a policy earlier this year to introduce the payments.
The policy would allow eligible elected councillors to claim an annual allowance of around £1,320. However, when councillors were asked to approve the budget needed to implement it at a Full Council meeting on Monday 6th July, concerns were raised about the cost and principle of the payments.
The proposed £20,000 allocation within the 2027/28 revenue budget would have covered the maximum cost of paying the allowance to all 13 eligible elected councillors, together with payroll administration costs.
Deputy Mayor Cllr Mike Sutton raised concerns about the impact on the council’s finances.
He said, “We keep saying we’ve got to preserve the precept and yet all the time we’re putting everything up. This is going to have a massive effect on a precept. It won’t go down well in the town; councillors turning up for public service and getting paid.
“There’s already a process where if you incur expenses on travel, parking, taking a day off work, you can be reimbursed. This is giving councillors money for basically just being a councillor and I don’t think that’s right.”
Cllr Sutton also questioned why only elected councillors would be eligible for the allowance, while co-opted councillors would not.
He said, “We pride ourselves on this council that we’re all equal here, and yet straight away, we are putting in provisions: elected councillors can get payments, co-opted councillors cannot. That can’t be right. It needs to be revisited.”
The motion to approve the £20,000 budget allocation was voted against. However, the previously agreed councillor expenses policy remains in place.
Town Clerk Deborah Urch explained that seven members of the council would need to request the policy be reconsidered and reworded before it could return to Full Council for review.
Pictured: Deputy Mayor Mike Sutton
