Isle of Wight councillors will be paid more in the next financial year.
It has not been decided how much the allowance will be going up by, however, as the national pay award is yet to be agreed. The majority of council employees will also see a rise.
For councillors, it follows a £220 pay rise last year, raising the basic allowance from £8,011 to £8,231.
A report from the independent remuneration panel recommended councillors would receive an increase of an inflationary measure, which was approved by full council last week, but not all members agreed,
Speaking at the meeting Cllr Geoff Brodie, chair of the council, said councillors were not paid, it was a public service for which members are awarded an allowance from the independent panel.
Cllr Brodie said:
“I will be voting in favour of this in the full knowledge that as a result of media stirrings, and I am no friend of the media on the Island anymore, know there will be attacks on us all for being greedy but I am thick-skinned enough to take it.”
Councillors across the chamber said they would not have been able to be in the role without the allowance, as it replaces their income.
However, Cllr Chris Jarman, cabinet member for strategic finances, said he could not find it appropriate to take an allowance when other Islanders would not benefit from that level of increase.
He said he was compelled to vote against it.
The council chamber was split when it came to the vote but the increase was ultimately passed with 17 votes for, 15 against and two abstentions.
When comparing the Isle of Wight Council’s basic allowance to other unitary authorities in the South East, the independent panel found the Island paid councillors a rate second to lowest.
The average across the nine authorities, including Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton and Hove Councils (also the top three highest payers), was £10,277.
Councillors are permitted expenses, such as travel, subsistence and childcare costs, as well as any special responsibility duties for the council, which pay more.
For example, if a councillor is a cabinet member they get double the basic allowance (£16,462), the leader of the council gets triple (£24,693) and the deputy leader gets an extra 1.25 times (£18,520).
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