The annual bill for North Yorkshire Council's member allowances is set to rise to more than £1.6m.
An independent panel has proposed that councillors receive an increase linked to the rate of inflation of 3.6 per cent for 2026/27.
The rise would take the basic allowance from £17,340 to £17,964 for the upcoming financial year.
The proposal follows a two per cent increase last year which followed a ten per cent rise on the year before that.
Allowances for councillors’ extra responsibilities are also set to rise in line with inflation.
The increase would mean the council leader receiving £41,903 in 2026/27, with the deputy getting £22,365 and other executive members £20,663.
Allowance rates are proposed by North Yorkshire Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).
Chair Philip Battle, said:
“In reaching our conclusions, the panel took into consideration a several factors.
“These included the impact of the way government calculates funding for local authorities and the adverse effect this will have on rural councils, as well as the current spending review, which is likely to lead to further cuts in local government funding.
“All of this, along with the associated work to balance the budget and changes in the way in which services are delivered, have increased the workload of councillors and the panel feels this needs to be reflected in the level of allowances paid.”
Members of North Yorkshire Council’s executive will consider the panel’s proposals on Tuesday next week.
The recommendations will then go to the full council for a decision on November 12th.
If approved, the proposed 3.6 per cent increase in the annual basic allowance will result in an increased annual cost of £56,182, taking the total cost to £1.61m for all 90 elected members.
The panel considered whether an alternative to increasing the basic allowance and special responsibility allowances by the rate of inflation could be to match the increase paid to council staff or other public sector pay increases.
However, Mr Battle said:
“The view of the panel is that this is not appropriate as the role of an elected member and that of a salaried employee of the council are neither similar nor comparable.”
The leader of North Yorkshire Council, Councillor Carl Les said:
“Encouraging people from all walks of life to become councillors is key to a fair and fully representative council.
“It is especially important in the current climate where new and innovative ways of thinking are required to help tackle the financial challenges we face.
“The commitment made by members should be reasonably recompensed and I thank the members of the independent panel for carefully considering this very important issue.”
Cllr Les said it was up to individual members to decide to take all, some or none of the agreed allowances.
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