COUNCILLORS in West Devon this week voted themselves an increase in allowances which will cost ratepayers in the borough an extra £100,000 a year — and put serious financial pressure on an already tight budget.

Members at Monday's extraordinary meeting of the borough council in Tavistock agreed the recommendations of an independent remuneration panel (IRP), appointed by the council under last year's Local Government Act.

With effect from August 1 2001, a basic allowance of £3,400 will be paid to every councillor. In addition, a special responsibility allowance of £3,400 will be paid to committee chairmen — group leaders will receive an extra £1,700.

The old system of attendance allowances will be scrapped.

Cllr Nicholas Waterhouse, Liberal Democrat leader, said: 'It seems to me there are three questions to address — whether these increases are justified, whether this is the time to make them, and whether the make-up of the package is right.'

Cllr Waterhouse said a member doing an additional chairman's job probably spent three-and-a-half days a week on council business, which equated to about £6 an hour.

'I don't personally regard that as unreasonable,' said Cllr Waterhouse.

He said on the same basis, a basic councillor would earn about £5 an hour, which he did not think excessive.

It was time to 'bite the bullet' and vote the package through, he said.

He added the law allowed time off for councillors, but did not require employers to pay for it, and hoped the package would attract younger people to stand, giving better representation in the borough in future.

Cllr Roger Mathew, planning committee chairman, said it was important to stick closely to the panel's recommendations.

'I think it may be widely misunderstood by the public when it is reported as "councillors voting themselves a substantial increase",' he said.

'There is nothing we can do about this — these are the recommendations of an independent panel.'

He felt the changes were defensible because they were proposed by the panel and not 'cooked up' by councillors.

He agreed it was difficult, and important, to attract new members, but was concerned the 'lure of a few pennies' might lead to people standing for the wrong reasons.

Cllr Peter Hill, policy committee chairman, said the panel had carried out a thorough examination, which assumed councillors gave 30 per cent of their time free of charge.

He said the recommendations covered the next 12 months and were subject to review.

But Cllr Margaret Garton sounded a note of warning. She felt it was the wrong time to agree the proposals and thought the increases could have been phased in.

'At the end of the day it is the tax payer who's going to pay,' she said.

The only member who voted against the recommendations was Tavistock's Cllr Caroline Keane.

She said: 'I feel the remuneration package does not reflect the fact that some councillors give very much more than a third of their time in a voluntary capacity.

'I also feel since the ratepayers are footing the bill, the package should have been phased.'

Helen Costello, principal management accountant, said no council so far had refused to take IRP recommendations on board, so the matter had not been tested in court, but she admitted it caused 'enormous' financial problems for a tiny authority like West Devon.

Borough treasurer Lesley Halton at a policy meeting the following day said the council would have to find an additional £483,000 worth of funding in 2002/3, thanks to unavoidable costs of £283,000 which included the new allowances.

'The seriousness of the situation must not be underestimated,' she warned.