Highland Council will decide on Thursday whether to agree a remuneration package worth nearly £1.5 million for its councillors.
This includes a 15% pay rise for the most senior members of the Highland Council.
In line with national legislation, the basic salary for a councillor is now £19,571. Multiply that by 74 and it’s easy to see how it adds up.
However, Highland councillors with significant extra responsibility generally get an uplift on top of their basic pay.
Some of these decisions – such as the salary of the leader and convener – are set at a national level. Others are at the discretion of the council.
The new structure proposed for 2022 costs £460,923 – a significant increase on 2017, when it was just shy of £400,000.
The council is planning some changes this political term. There are pay rises for most chair positions and for the leader of the opposition.
The council also wants to create two new ‘senior strategic chair’ posts with responsibilities across the region.
All this adds to the amount billed to the taxpayer.
However, this is offset by a proposal to stop paying extra money to area chairs – except in Inverness.
Overall, the proposals are 15% more expensive than five years ago.
Some salaries are set nationally
The majority of the increase is down to pay awards which are set at a national level.
Under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act, councils are placed in four bands with different salaries in each.
Highland Council is in Band C and can have a leader, civic head (convener) and up to 19 further senior councillors.
The maximum total pay for senior councillors in Highland (excluding the leader and civic head) is £511,316. So the council’s proposals fall well short of the threshold.
For this financial year, the leader attracts a salary of £45,669 and the convener £34,254.
This is up from £39,418 and £29,624, respectively, in 2017.
Two new roles proposed
However, Highland Council can decide itself how much to pay for other senior roles.
In the last political term, the leader of the opposition was paid £25,474 and the chairperson of a strategic committee got the same.
The council also paid some strategic vice-chairs and the leaders of its 10 area committees.
This year, the council is proposing an 18% pay increase for the opposition leader, taking their salary to £30,000.
The chairs of the council’s strategic committees will get a 10% uplift, to £28,000. Vice-chairs of the most important committees will be paid £21,500.
The council’s report also suggests creating two new posts for senior strategic chairs, at a cost of £30,000 each. The strategic chairs would have pan-Highland responsibilities in addition to their area roles.
Council plans to only pay Inverness area chair
Highland Council appears to be offsetting the cost of these pay rises by cutting the salaries of its area chairs.
In a move that’s likely to prove controversial, the council is suggesting a salary of £25,000 for the Inverness chairperson.
The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of Inverness committee also asks members to create a new role of deputy leader for the city and area, and elect two deputy provosts.
It’s not likely there will be extra money attached to these jobs, though the detailed proposals will be tabled tomorrow.
At the same time, the nine other area committees in Highland will have one chairperson each, on a basic councillor pay.
This may prompt debate as to the council’s commitment to localism. Last month, convener Bill Lobban said he wanted to devolve money and power to area committees.
Members will discuss and vote on the proposed pay package at their next meeting on Thursday June 9.
This is also the meeting where key roles are handed out, and committee places divided up across the political groups.
This procedural meeting may not be exciting, but it will set the tone for the next five years of political leadership in the Highlands.
Conversation