Quote:
Originally Posted by garinda
I still think it would be a good idea for one of our councillors to post about the amount of time that is spent in meetings in council chambers, and how much extra time is required if you sit on other committees etc., besides what work is done outside 'offical' hours.
If more people knew exactly how much they did, with no reward for themselves, it might garner a bit of good public relations, and people might cut them a bit more slack.
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Crikey Gary, where do I start?
At a basic level there are the full councils which take a good four hours each with travelling and they're once every six weeks.
Depending on how many committees you choose to sit on that gobbles up another few hours a month.
Answering e-mails as it stands now after two weeks takes up an hour a day.
Phone messages come through daily which really should be answered with home visits and a full answer which usually needs a bit of research as well.
Party meetings are at least once a month (certainly more than that for Labour) which is another three hours a time with travelling.
The earache you get in pubs is sometimes a little galling when you just need a quick pint after working all day but it's nice to be recognised as someone who people will ask for assistance and the gratitude from those you do help is priceless.
Basic salary for all councillors is just under £4,500 per year which is taxable. Chairs of committees get an additional £1,500 per year per chair and Leader of the Council gets in the region of £21,000 extra per year.
At my level, you don't get much beyond your basic allowance and fuel at 60p per mile to meetings on official council business.