Official Figures Prove It: NOT All Councillors Are The Same!
Official Figures from Kent County Council show a huge difference in the expenses claimed by Councillors representing Shepway divisions on Kent County Council.
Expenses claims (for mileage and other travel expenses) for the period April 2009-April 2012 show a massive range of claims - from over £10,000 for the Conservative Councillor for Elham Valley to ZERO for Liberal Democrat Councillor for Folkestone West Tim Prater.
Tim Prater says:
"All Councillors receive an allowance to do their job as a Kent County Councillor - it's like a wage for doing a job. It's an honour to represent Folkestone West on the County Council, and I think that the allowance should cover the cost of doing the job: not claiming mileage and other expenses on top.
"I haven't claimed a single penny in expenses from Kent County Council from my election in 2009. The official figures show I didn't claim anything from April 2009-April 2012, and I haven't claimed since either!
"Every penny claimed by Councillors for expenses is money that could and should be spent on supporting local services: improving our roads, our schools, our social care. "
Folkestone campaigner Lynne Beaumont added:
"What a difference! It is clear Tim is prepared to put taxpayers first: it's an excellent example of how one person makes a real difference.
"Shepway's Conservative councillors should explain why they have claimed over £26,000 in three years, on top of their allowances, from Kent's taxpayers."
Shepway County Councillor Claimed Expenses 2009-2012 | |||||
Name | Party | 2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | Total |
Capon | Conservative | £999.60 | £728.20 | £709.00 | £2,436.80 |
Carey | Conservative | £3,001.06 | £3,248.98 | £3,939.00 | £10,189.04 |
Pascoe | Conservative | £1,853.86 | £1,514.32 | £1,080.00 | £4,448.18 |
Tim Prater | Liberal Democrats | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
Tolputt | Conservative | £2,387.51 | £2,414.43 | £2,441.00 | £7,242.94 |
Waters * | Conservative | £173.45 | £1,640.00 | £1,813.45 | |
*Elected in By-election 10 Feb 2011 | |||||
At his first County Council meeting in 2009, Tim Prater spoke and voted against Councillors giving themselves a £1,000 rise in their basic allowance, increasing it from £12,000 to £13,000. Tim Prater spent his allowance increase that year on funding equipment and a posting licence for a shop in his division to allow them to offer post services which had been withdrawn when the Post office had closed some years before.
Tim said:
"I didn't think Councillors could or should justify giving themselves a pay-rise while we were facing making cuts to services and freezing staff pay. But by using that increase to fund a new service in Folkestone West I could make a real difference to local residents.
"I was proved right on allowances when the County Council then voted a while later to CUT Councillor Allowances, partially reversing their previous decision!"
The full expenses figures on the Kent County Council website are available at:
2011-2012 Expenses to Councillors: https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/council-and-democracy/Transparency%20project/councillor-allowances2012.pdf
2010-2011 Expenses to Councillors: http://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=17490
2009-2010 Expenses to Councillors: https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/council-and-democracy/council%20financial%20publications/members-allowances-200910-final.pdf
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