Councillors get a payrise while Council Services get cutback

[robbain]

What is your views about this? Should Councillors get a pay rise or not, while the Services get cut?

[Moira]

Do you have an early copy of Caithness Courier or what? Without the details & source of your info I wouldn't care to comment.

[robbain]

The Councillors pay rise has been on the news and in the newpapers, for the cuts in the services is on Caithness org under this part £489 MILLION BUDGET RECOMMENDED FOR 2006-7
The Highland Council will be asked on Thursday (2 February) to confirm a savings package of £18.7 million in setting a budget of £489 million for 2006-7. A report by Alan Geddes, Director of Finance, described the budget outlook faced by the Council as the most challenging in recent years. The level of savings needed to balance the budget were of a level previously seen only in the early years of the Council in 1996. He forecast that the Council would face an even more difficult budget outlook in 2007/8, which highlighted the critical need to balance the budget in the new financial year with sustainable savings.
See Proposed Budget Savings to be debated on 2 February at Highland Council, Inverness on 2 February

[concerned resident]

This is just another big business, who will do as they please, Give them selves big pay rises, and cut the services. The only difference is, you have to pay the bill they send out, as it is a criminal offence if you do not, and can get locked up. The whole of Highland Council should be cut back, or contracted out, but even if it made a profit, the government would only take it, this is just another form of tax. The only solution is you give them your wages and they will give you back what’s left after they pay for there wars, Mod, quangos, MP’s pensions, etc, etc.

[golach]

What is your views about this? Should Councillors get a pay rise or not, while the Services get cut?

What about the obscene pay awards the MSP's are awarding themselves if they were on P.B.R. (Pay By Result) they would be owing us money

[JAWS]

It's time we went back to Councillors who carried out such duties out of a sense of caring about the Community.
Why Holyrood needs to sit every day when ten years ago we managed quite well without them sound more like 'work expands to time allotted' rather than being a necessity.
Sitting on a Council, likewise, has become a full time occupation.

Doing things in your own time concentrates the mind wonderfully on what needs to be done. Payment by time expended just means that reasons will be found to form 'Committees' to carry out endless discussions and enquiries.

The saying that also springs to mind is, "The Devil makes work for Idle Hands!" How much of the hot air constantly forthcoming from Holyrood has actually done anything for the benefit of Scotland and how much is just Party Political Posturing caused by having too much time with too little to do?

[cuddlepop]

I'm showing my ignorance here but tell me do they have to have performance targets,availability sheets etc for the week etc.How do they account for there salary?
If services have to be cut and population decreasing how come they get such a big wage rise?

[Errogie]

If you think Councillors get paid too much just ask yourself would you do it?
And bear in mind that any reduction in opportunity for you to have a local representation and voice is just handling power on a platter to the tyrants in the Scottish Executive and beyond and they can't even organise a dental service!