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My question is: Should a mayoral/chairperson Allowance expenditure  be executed entirely at the behest of the Mayor: without Council being made aware of how it is being spent.
Or: should the Council be billed direct, and where the mayor has incurred expenses, within the rules, then reclaims the money with the necessary receipts (so that Council can fully monitor how the Allowance is being used).
Note 1: Clearly there are +/- to both but it is Public money after all. There is also the moot point as to which functions are required and which are optional.
Note 2: Our constitution identifies many roles for our Chairperson to perform within a Council year? These include raising money for Mayoral Charities: representing the Town on Twinning events: plus all the attendance at Civic events and Other highly regard District and County. events etc.
by (2.6k points)
edited by

1 Answer

+1 vote
In more relaxed times, before austerity, it wasn't unusual for the Mayor's Allowance to be handed over to the mayor to do as they wished. One use for the council on which I sit used to be a Civic Dinner, to which a variety of local dignitaries were invited. It was a congenial event. Other uses included the costs of attending events in the role of mayor.

This approach was abandoned some time ago, and now the Mayor's allowance is simply a ceiling on the actual out of pocket expenses the mayor is permitted to claim. But that is one particular council's choice, in part a reaction to concerns over citizens' ability to shoulder the burden of council tax in hard times. On the whole, our view is that it isn't the council's job to take tax money and hand it over to charities except where there is a specific benefit to the citizens of the parish that might not be obtained without the council's help.

Either approach is lawful provided it is clear that the mayor is not making council decisions, but is simply putting into practice arrangements decided by the council.
by (33.0k points)
A paper is being presented to our next Council Meeting containing referring to "Section 15 & 34 of the Local Government ACt 2018". It is related to how the Chair/Mayor may spend the allowance without paying tax.  I must admit I am somewhat unaware of this change in 2018. Is there any way you can enlighten me?

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