February 15, 2019 12.32 pm This story is over 69 months old

County councillors’ allowances set to increase

It’s the same day as a council tax hike

Lincolnshire County Councillors will vote on a rise in their members’ allowances next week.

The authority will be recommended to approve a 2.49% rise.

A report before the members will say it is in line with the average increase in pay for local government employees over the past 12 months.

However, the panel has recommended no other changes be made.

The council is not required to accept the recommendations.

Nigel West, head of democratic services said: “An independent panel makes recommendations about allowances our councillors are entitled receive.

“In January 2018, the panel recommended that all allowances should be increased by the average percentage increase received by local government employees, and this was subsequently approved by the council.”

The changes will see the basic allowance councillors are entitled to rise by £262.19 to £10,791.95.

This is in addition to additional roles such as that of council leader which will be entitled to claim £34,192.13 – a rise of £830.70.

The leader of the opposition will be able to claim an additional £9,712.74 – up £235.97.

The increase will come after councillors approve a budget which will include a 4.95% increase in council tax – the general rate by 2.95% with an additional 2% adult social care precept.

It means the rate for an average band D property is set to rise by £60.93 from £1,231.47 to £1,292.40 for the county council.

Meanwhile, the authority is expected to see further cuts in grants from central government.

Money from the council’s revenue support grant, which is the main source of funding from government, is expected to fall to £20.139 million.

It means the authority will have seen a £50.212 million cut in its grant over the past four years.

As a result, the county council has forecast a shortfall in its budget of £3.087 million.

But the authority has proposed to dip into its reserves in order to balance the books.