By Richard Evans, Reporter
The council elections are almost upon us and the Weekly News can look forward to dealing with candidates bombarding us with e-mails and invitations to all manner of publicity stunts to help them secure their annual allowance for the next four years - sorry, what I meant to say was so they can represent their communities and work tirelessly to change their wards for the better.
I strongly advise any of you who have even the slightest resentment when paying your council tax to vote on May 1. There are 59 councillors and 38 wards and around £1 million up for grabs to be split among councillors and their responsibilities.
There are some councillors who are good and some who aren't so good. Of course the scale varies a great deal from those who work hard day-in and day-out to fight for their community and others who do next to nothing but shamelessly accept their share of the cake and look on their allowance as some sort of second pension. Not bad for a minimum of £12,000, hey? Others are on £27,000, and the leader £41,000, before expenses.
Does that sound harsh? If so, take it up with your local councillor as it is not in fact my opinion but the general consensus of a number of councillors who feel the system is being abused. I spoke to every councillor on the list as part of a feature I put together on councillors and their allowances (today's Weekly News) and several felt some were accepting thousands of tax payers money without even having a quota to meet of a minimum number of meetings to attend.
Former Rhiw ward councillor Stephen Woolfe went six months without attending one council meeting until he eventually got the boot and is estimated to have accepted over £20,000. And having met Mr Woolfe when he was first elected I can tell you he was full of promise and youthful exuberance (he's 40, but that's young for a councillor).
So cast your vote carefully on May 1, or why not stand yourself? Remember there are some genuine gems on the council and others who could possibly be a wolf in sheep's clothing - it's your money.
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Peccato il Buffone wrote...
They aren't publicity stunts. Councillors are genuine people who really care.
All of them.
Especially John Pitt.
Posted by: Peccato il Buffone | March 6, 2008 1:04 PM