A letter recently published in a local newspaper from a Mr Porter, which suggested putting a stop to councillors allowances, received a response from Cllr Graham Turner, Kirklees Cabinet Member for Resources. The response published by the newspaper is below, providing some very useful context for any others who currently think similarly to Mr Porter:
Dear Sir,
It was interesting to read the letter from a Mr Porter last week in your newspaper.
It has become the norm recently for members of the public to think that all the ills of the cuts in Kirklees spending can be cured by removing councillors’ allowances.
I believe it’s time the reality of the cuts and councillors’ allowances was laid to rest once and for all.
We are facing a reduction in our budget of £152 million by 2017/2018.
If Mr Porter thinks that by cutting councillor allowances we could save that amount of money, I suggest he buys a new calculator.
Our total allowances are less than one per cent of this figure.
He is correct we can park in KMC car parks for free, but only when on council business. How would this save money? Clearly it can’t. He claims we have a private secure car park on Albion Street, we don’t. We park where the public parks.
We do have access to IT equipment, and back up and we should, if I was working in any job I would expect to be provided with the tools to do the job I was employed to do.
We don’t ask road teams to supply their own JCB, and oh and by the way, can you bring some tarmac to work tomorrow, we are resurfacing the road.
There are no pensions as that was stopped last year by the Secretary of State.
You could reduce the number of councillors, but this would require legislation from central Government.
Given the amount of work we all get it would mean a reduction in response times to residents’ concerns. I don’t think this would be very popular, as residents always want a quick response and resolution to their problems.
Plus those who remain would have to do extra committees etc to ensure a fair representation.
The letters we send out using the council post are in answer to residents’ concerns, so let’s stop that to save a few quid and ignore the electorate. Clearly this is a nonsense.
Whilst I can’t speak for other parties, in my party we always have more people wishing to stand for elections than there are seats.
I believe that I and my colleagues put more into Kirklees than we take out. I get calls at all times of the day and night. How many other people can get calls at nine and 10 o’clock in the evening on a weekend?
I can’t comment on how the members of other parties wish to behave and what jobs they have taken.
I am unsure of what the reference to unions means, so can’t comment as it’s too vague.
If Mr Porter wants to explain to me how I can pay my bills without an allowance then I would be very grateful, and will willingly give my allowance to a charity of his choice.
Also, if he wants I will give him my allowance if he is prepared to spend a fortnight with me and see how much work we have to do.
But be aware that most nights you won’t get your tea until 10 o’clock at night after evening meetings, and will spend your weekends driving round my ward checking out the varied issues that residents have reported.
Or if it’s such an easy way to make a few bob, then on May 7 2015 he could stand as a candidate in the elections. But he won’t.
Dear Sir,
It was interesting to read the letter from a Mr Porter last week in your newspaper.
It has become the norm recently for members of the public to think that all the ills of the cuts in Kirklees spending can be cured by removing councillors’ allowances.
I believe it’s time the reality of the cuts and councillors’ allowances was laid to rest once and for all.
We are facing a reduction in our budget of £152 million by 2017/2018.
If Mr Porter thinks that by cutting councillor allowances we could save that amount of money, I suggest he buys a new calculator.
Our total allowances are less than one per cent of this figure.
He is correct we can park in KMC car parks for free, but only when on council business. How would this save money? Clearly it can’t. He claims we have a private secure car park on Albion Street, we don’t. We park where the public parks.
We do have access to IT equipment, and back up and we should, if I was working in any job I would expect to be provided with the tools to do the job I was employed to do.
We don’t ask road teams to supply their own JCB, and oh and by the way, can you bring some tarmac to work tomorrow, we are resurfacing the road.
There are no pensions as that was stopped last year by the Secretary of State.
You could reduce the number of councillors, but this would require legislation from central Government.
Given the amount of work we all get it would mean a reduction in response times to residents’ concerns. I don’t think this would be very popular, as residents always want a quick response and resolution to their problems.
Plus those who remain would have to do extra committees etc to ensure a fair representation.
The letters we send out using the council post are in answer to residents’ concerns, so let’s stop that to save a few quid and ignore the electorate. Clearly this is a nonsense.
Whilst I can’t speak for other parties, in my party we always have more people wishing to stand for elections than there are seats.
I believe that I and my colleagues put more into Kirklees than we take out. I get calls at all times of the day and night. How many other people can get calls at nine and 10 o’clock in the evening on a weekend?
I can’t comment on how the members of other parties wish to behave and what jobs they have taken.
I am unsure of what the reference to unions means, so can’t comment as it’s too vague.
If Mr Porter wants to explain to me how I can pay my bills without an allowance then I would be very grateful, and will willingly give my allowance to a charity of his choice.
Also, if he wants I will give him my allowance if he is prepared to spend a fortnight with me and see how much work we have to do.
But be aware that most nights you won’t get your tea until 10 o’clock at night after evening meetings, and will spend your weekends driving round my ward checking out the varied issues that residents have reported.
Or if it’s such an easy way to make a few bob, then on May 7 2015 he could stand as a candidate in the elections. But he won’t.
