Controversial pay rises awarded to 21 senior council officers should be renegotiated to save money, according to opposition councillors.
The Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly County Borough Council has said reversing the pay rises and axing a senior councillor post could save up to £300,000 a year.
But Labour has criticised Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann and called for Plaid councillors to give up some of their member allowances.
The pay rises for 21 council bosses were originally awarded in September 2012 and were later deemed unlawful by the Wales Audit Office.
The Party of Wales group said that savings of £267,000 every year from top salaries could be used to reduce the impact of cuts on services.
In addition, reducing the number of Cabinet members by just one would save over £40,000 per annum when national insurance and other costs were taken into account.
Cllr Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, said: “Times are very tough for local authorities and we believe the Labour leadership need to look at reversing the pay rises for top officers which should never have been awarded in the first place.
“I also recall that prior to the last election Labour was urging Plaid to reduce the Cabinet of nine members to eight and one senior Labour councillor even suggested that a Cabinet of only five was appropriate.
“If the council agreed to renegotiate the pay increases – which were declared unlawful by the Wales Audit Office – then money would be available to prevent service cuts such as the closure of the café at Caerphilly Leisure Centre, the shutting of three public toilets and cutting cleaning and repair of bus shelters.”
Councillor Mann added: “The other issue is the 3.9% rise in council tax bills. Labour promised last year not to exceed 2.35%. We know the funding situation has changed but any savings could also be considered to reduce the proposed 3.9% increase.
“If the pay rises are not reversed, the cost of these top officers’ pay deals will amount to around £1.5m by the time we get to the 2017 council elections.”
Labour’s deputy council leader Cllr Keith Reynolds suggested that Plaid councillors could give up their extra member allowances for their opposition positions and questioned why Plaid did not cut a Cabinet position while it was in power.
He said: “This is a really difficult time for local government in Wales.
“This is the worst and most difficult budget that has been presented and the council has to take these unpalatable decisions.”
In November last year, Caerphilly County Borough Council’s interim chief executive Stuart Rosser told councillors that trying to claim back the pay rises awarded to managers could prove costly to the council as expert legal advice was needed.
The local authority’s chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan and his deputy Nigel Barnett were arrested and have been charged with misconduct in a public office.
The controversial pay rises were voted for in 2012 by a secret committee meeting of five councillors. That vote was based on a report penned by Mr O’Sullivan himself.
This `banter` between senior Councillors on Caerphilly Council really is rich, but, I notice it is only Colin Mann Plaid Cymru Leader who is suggesting any practical measure to save the householder of the borough money.
Every year we see the party in power, (currently Labours turn), `adjusting` the council`s budgets, which usually means increased charges on the public for council services, and, the final blow of increasing, year on year, the council tax on every household in the borough.
It seems to be beyond the collective brain power of all Councillors to work together to produce a fair and balanced budget, between CUTS and INCREASED COSTS, it also appears to be beyond the intellect and experience of all the Council`s professional Officers, Who should know where all the bodies are buried and where waste and extravagant spending is rife, i.e where all the fat abounds in copious amounts, and to recommend, in the public interest, where meaningful and painless CUTS to Council expenditure could and should be made, i.e too many Council hired vans and cars to have enough space to garage them overnight, and because of this allowing staff to take the hire vehicles home, what is that all about?. Employed `STREET WARDENS` given VANS to patrol the streets, What is that all about?? surely they should be on foot at all times WALKING THE STREETS?, the clue is in the job title ` Street Warden`.
As many refuse collection foremen as there are refuse collecting lorries, What is that all about??.
What has happened to the teams that USED to repair potholes in our roads?? are they employed doing something else? because they are not repairing holes in the road.
What has happened to street cleaning teams now that street and park cleaning has downgraded? are they employed elsewhere? because they are not cleaning the parks everyday?.
Council offices Overloaded with senior,overpaid, managers, probably under worked, whilst less senior staff have additional duties heaped on them for no increase in pay, What on earth is that all about???
Reduced and increased costs of Meals on Wheels service, while Councillors refuse to demand Departmental Managers make relevant financial savings in their departments, name and shame those seniors officers who prove unable or unwilling to find the savings the Councillors should demand from them.
Until the Council learn something from the current, odious, Tory Government about cutting waste and making back room savings before looking to the pockets of the Caerphilly Borough Householders to prop up civic overspending and an `obese` organisation we, the ratepayers of the borough will continue to pay.
Finally, there is no problem retrieving the over payments to senior managers, first: send them a bill. Second: if they don't pay the money back on demand, take them before the County Court, much the same as the Council already do with rent or rate arrears citizens. Third: obtain a judgement against them INCLUDING THE COST OF RECOVERY OF THE MONEY, Forth: if they don't pay after that send in the bailiffs, the same as the Council do already to rent and rate arrears citizens, JOB DONE and at NO cost to the ratepayers of the borough.
Typical Colin Mann. Does he think if all the senior pay expenditure would disappear then the budgets would be balanced. He's spent all these savings 100 times over. Not an ounce of credibility.
Am I alone in being puzzled by Stuart Rosser saying that clawing back the rises awarded to top administrators would be "costly?" These rises have been declared illegal, not by me or any other layman but by the Auditor General. Where people have financially benefited from these rises it should be a simple matter to reverse the decision and recoup the wages paid out.
We are getting the usual knockabout politics by Labour and Plaid Cymru but the crux, as I have repeated many times, is that the illegally obtained pay structure is still in place and ready to be used. Perhaps it is time that the parties put their heads together and worked out a new, more realistic, pay structure for their employees.