Update on councillor salaries

As reported in today's "Courier", I have received an update about the legal position on my attempt to freeze all councillor salaries in Dundee to 2008/9 levels in 2009/10, given the significant financial challenges facing the City Council.

Scottish Government's Public Service Reform Directorate advised me that, whilst it was not in a position to give a legal opinion, and said, ultimately that was for each council's legal officers to determine, the relevant rules are given in the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Regulations as amended (SSI 2007/183 and amended by SSI 2008/415).

On reading these, these appear to indicate that :

• The council cannot vary the basic councillor salary.
• The council cannot vary the Leader's salary.
• The council CAN vary the Civic Head's salary as long as this does not exceed a laid down maximum figure (this figure varies for differently sized councils)
• The council CAN vary all senior councillors' salaries subject to neither the total number nor the total budget exceeding that specified in regulations.

I have subsequently been in correspondence with the Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) as the City Council's most senior legal officer, to get her legal opinion on my interpretation of the relevant regulations. She has now responded as follows :

"I would agree with your interpretation except in so far as undernoted.

"The Council can vary the Civic Head salary as long as this does not exceed £24,353 and does not fall below the basic Councillor salary. The Council can vary all senior Councillors' salaries subject to neither the total number nor the total budget exceeding that specified in regulations and provided that the amount payable will be more than that paid to a basic Councillor and provided also that it does not exceed 75% of the yearly amount payable to the Leader of the Council."

The bottom line is that it would therefore be possible to have restricted some councillor salaries this year - all Convener and Depute Convener salaries and that of the Lord Provost - but not other councillors. The principle behind my motion was not to restrict some councillor salaries but to restrict all councillor salaries as a fair and equitable way of tackling the issue.

I consider the way the regulations have been worded is anomalous and I think they should be altered - that will of course require discussion at Scottish Parliamentary level. I agree that the regulations for all councillor salaries should have a legally binding maximum attached to them to avoid a local authority paying inflated amounts, but I feel the scope of the regulations should be reviewed to allow individual local authorities to set councillor salaries at a lower level if that is what a majority on the council wish to do. Such a change to the regulations would allow local authorities more flexibility to vary councillor salaries downwards if they want.

I have therefore raised the matter with my Liberal Democrat parliamentary colleagues through our Local Government spokesperson Alison McInnes MSP. Clearly, getting an alteration to the regulations might prove difficult getting the parliamentary arithmetic and the extent of the workload in the Scottish Parliament, but I feel it is important that the matter is raised at parliamentary level.

I have no doubt, however, that this issue will be discussed again during the next budget process. Many opposition councillors have had disquiet over the way in which the senior councillor salary the Depute Lord Provost Ian Borthwick turned down has been divided up amongst SNP group Conveners and Depute Conveners for themselves, rather than being used to help other service provision.