A FORMER Mayor of Worcester has criticised the introduction of yearly handout of £4,300 to the city’s first citizen.
Worcester City Council approved plans to offer the postholder a special responsibility allowance, with the £4,300 designed to offset some of the costs of the role.
Until now, Worcester’s top civic role has offered no payment, meaning the councillor elected to the mayoralty often ends their 12-month term of office out of pocket.
But outgoing Worcester mayor Coun Paul Denham rounded on the introduction of the allowance and said there was ‘no justification’ for the cash.
“I disagree with the mayor being paid. It’s an extremely privileged position, you go around this city attending all sorts of events,” he said.
“You are often on the front row of such events where the ticket prices are not low.”
Coun Denham told the city council meeting on May 18 he could understand the introduction of the allowance if the budget for the mayor’s events was low but he found the cash covered the events he hosted during his year at the helm.
The mayor is the civic head of the council, and is elected each May to serve for one year in a vote by councillors.
“I really can’t justify the idea of being paid taxpayers money for the job,” he added.
“If we are awash with money I would rather see it spent on security for the chain of office. We saw in 2014 the Mayor of Bury was hit over the back of the head while putting his in the back of his car, the chain was then stolen.”
Coun Denham’s criticisms sparked a debate in the chamber during the meeting, with former mayor Coun Andy Roberts disagreeing with the Labour councillor’s views.
“It’s a great honour to be mayor, and you don’t expect a great deal back (in money),” said Coun Roberts (Conservative).
“But when you are the mayor, it’s an expensive business and you do come out of it out of pocket.
“This isn’t a big return, it’s similar to what cabinet members used to get.”
The former mayor said the cash reflected the status of the role and highlighted the sole mayor for the city compared to three in the neighbouring Wychavon area covering Droitwich, Evesham and Pershore.
Current Mayor Coun Steve Mackay (Conservative) will be the first to benefit from the cash injection.
He abstained during the debate and the subsequent vote in which councillors approved the plans by 32 votes to three abstentions including Coun Denham.
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