Good housekeeping rules rejected on spending of Marlborough’s annual £3,400 mayoral allowance

Marlborough’s elected Mayors in the future will continue to have full discretion on the control of their £3,400 allowance from the Town Council but will have to publish on the council’s website specific items of over £500.

This was the outcome of a squabble over accountability of the money which, at any mayor’s discretion, can be paid in full at the start of their year in office or taken in four separate sums during the year.

And it followed a demand by Councillor Richard Allen at a meeting of the council’s Finance and Policy Committee that greater accountability was vital.

“If we are going to give the Mayor £3,400 upfront, I want to know how they are going to spend it,” he declared.  “It’s money from my council precept that’s been given to the town and I need to know where it goes.”

Former mayor Councillor Alexander Kirk Wilson said he had taken the £3,400 in four bites and tried initially to monitor all the individual raffle tickets and donations he made at civic events but found it far too time-consuming.

“I found it impossible to do without secretarial help,” he pointed out and added:  “It would be very nice to say where the money has all gone.”

Councillor Bryan Castle, another former mayor, said having the £3,400 available had been necessary in his case as one of the first demands was to pay £800 on air fares to the Gambia, with which Marlborough has a civic link.

And Councillor Nick Fogg, twice a former mayor, referred to the controversy over the increase of personal allowances to members of Wiltshire Council and wondered whether the £3,400 was an allowance or a wage.

“Increasing allowances is not the culture of our present austerity times,” he insisted.  “I personally found the allowance quite adequate and if it wasn’t you add to it.”

But Councillor Allen pointed out:  “There is a question of public accountability on how the money is spent.  I am not expecting it to be down to the last postage stamp.”

He insisted that he had yet to hear a convincing argument as to why the lump sum was paid to a mayor at the start of his or her year of office.

“You’re not going to spend it all straight away,” he suggested.  “Let it be used in four batches.  That’s good housekeeping.”

And he added if at any time a mayor needed an advance on the quarterly allowance then he or she could always seek the consent of the Town Council.

Councillor Billy Lam suggested that, as with other council payments, any sum spent over £500 should be posted on the Town Council’s public website.

The committee decided to recommend the next full meeting of the Town council to allow the town’s mayor to take the £3,400 at his or her discretion with the proviso that any sum over £500 be displayed on the council website.