Expenses claimed by councillors serving Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and Argyll and Bute have been published.
The four island authorities combined cost the public purse more than £500,000 on top of the salaries paid to elected members in the financial year 2013/14.
The total figure for Shetland Council represented an increase of more than £12,000 on the previous year, while Orkney was also up by £11,148.
There was a rise of more than £6,500 at Argyll and Bute Council, but the statistics for Western Isles showed a reduction from the previous year of £4,222.
All local authorities are required to publish details of expenses reimbursed under the Local Government (Scotland) Regulations 2007.
The highest claimant at Shetland Council was leader Gary Robinson, who was reimbursed for £1,303.60 in mileage costs, £4,624.83 in subsistence, £894.48 for telephone and computer expenses and £10,147.65 in other allowances. His salary last year was £27,089.14.
Mr Robinson said: “I think one of the important things to remember is that 2012 was an election year, and there were a couple of months there when there was less council business resulting in travel outwith Shetland.
“But the travel costs that we do incur are entirely necessary to further the interests of the local authority.
“In Shetland’s case, one of the things that we were criticised for by the Accounts Commission in 2010 was a lack of engagement with other councils and organisations outwith the islands.”
Mr Robinson said good examples of the benefit of that work was a significant financial settlement agreed with the UK government on a long-running housing debt issue.
In Orkney, the most expensive councillor was Stephen Hagan, former convener and member for the North Isles, with a £16,800.49 claim. The overall expenses bill for the authority was £434,621.78.
Among Mr Hagan’s costs were car mileage of £1,774.80 and subsistence allowance of £4,133.95, a £535.60 telephone and information technology (IT) bill and £424 in other costs.
Orkney convener Steven Heddle also had a large expenses bill, as expected, with a total of £14,696.59.
Of that, the majority – about £10,330.44 – was in travel costs, with more than £3,100 in subsistence payments and a £556.21 telephone and IT bill.
The total salary and expenses bill for Western Isles councillors was reduced by £4,222.17 to £661,104.57 – £125,477.29 of it expenses.
Convener Norman Macdonald topped the list of members with a £22,056.05 claim for the year.
He said: “Our costs have reduced slightly, and that comes against a backdrop of increased prices and an increased workload, especially in terms of the amount of travel from the islands to the mainland.
“We are quite conscious of looking at meetings, and whether they need to be done face-to-face or by using video conferencing technology.”
In Argyll and Bute, the total cost to the taxpayer was £864,844.35 – an increase of £6,546.50 on 2012/13. The expenses total was more than £182,000.
The highest claimant was Robin Currie, policy lead for community and culture, and also strategic housing, who ran up a bill of £18,582.94. His salary is £19,571.87.
On top of that, Mr Currie racked up £5,674.95 in car mileage, more than £3,500 for travel and £8,628.28 in accommodation costs.
In yesterday’s edition of the Press and Journal, a table accompanying a story about Highland Council’s expenses carried two incorrect figures. The total for councillor Richard Greene was actually £22,521.58, while councillor Craig Fraser’s total should have been listed as £19,390.09.