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Thursday, May 18, 2006

Mayoral allowance

Mayors to receive 40% increase in allowance!

At yesterday's Annual meeting of South Tyneside Borough Council it was agreed to increase the Mayoral Allowance from 6160 pounds to 8606 pounds, a whopping 40% increase, this was despite the officer's recommendation to increase the allowance even further!

During his/her year in office the Mayor will attend on average over 500 civic functions and inevitably incur some sort of personal expense, the officer's report does not describe what is included in these expenses, but does point out that the allowance has not been increased "for some time".

It does make one wonder what these expenses might be, if perhaps we had a female Mayor, would she be spending 7,700 pounds, as Cherie Blair charged the Labour Party during it's last election campaign for the services of a personal hairdresser and make up artist?

(This is not an example of a 7000 pound hairstyle)

Would a male Mayor be prepared to renew his suits and shirts in the manner of Charles Kennedy at the last election? The Daily Telegraph reported his spending as such;

Mr Kennedy splashed out 4,800 pounds on six new suits from a tailor in Dewsbury, West Yorks, plus another 355 pounds on six cotton shirts.

Will Cllr. Ed Malcolm be likely to splash out 3,639 pounds on make up, as Michael Howard did for the Tories?

It all seems highly improbable, so what exactly does it cost the Mayor (personally) during his/her year in office?

Transport is not a problem, we provide them with a nice car and a chauffer; loss of earnings is generally not a problem (I struggle to remember the name of the last Mayor who had another full time job to hold down.) Clothing might be a problem for some, but we do have a nice fur coat, white gloves, and tricorn hat hidden away somewhere in the basement of the Town Hall, they only need to be dry cleaned!

So just what is it that requires another 2,500 pounds?

Any current or previous Mayor who wishes to elucidate, please send your answers on the back of an envelope to...........(or just hit the comments button)

Link

The Daily Telegraph

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# posted by Curly : 12:34 am

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Curly
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