Cheshire East Council has paid a total of £1,274,205 in allowances to Council Members for the period for April 1st 2016 to 31st March 2017, up £1342 on the previous financial year.
Councillors receive a basic annual allowance of £11,661 on top of which general expenses are paid along with allowances for special responsibilities, subsistence, travel and dependants' carers.
The £1.27 million was divided between 82 councillors - with £952,631.87 paid in basic allowances, £261,815.30 in special responsibility allowances and £58,095.06 in travel allowances.
The largest payments went to Cabinet members including the current leader Rachel Bailey who was paid a total of £42,816.83, which included a £27,000 special responsibility allowance and £4,277 for travel which was the highest amount paid to an individual. Deputy Leader Cllr David Brown who was paid a total of £29,000, which also included a £16,300 special responsibility allowance.
Councillor Peter Groves, cabinet member for democratic and public engagement, said: "Cheshire East Council is the third largest unitary authority in the North West of England with 82 councillors and a budget of £750m.
"The council represents 374,000 residents and the elected member's allowances are comparable to many other authorities of a similar size and demographic.
"All allowances and expenses are scrutinised and claims are submitted in accordance with legal requirements and criteria."
Payments to Directors of Council Owned Companies are not included in the Councils' Allowance scheme but were included in the figures released for completeness and show that an additional £130,911.53 was paid to directors, up from £119,585.44 the previous financial year. The highest payment of £10,878.72 was paid to Cllr Jamie Macrae.
The record pf payments for April 1st 2016 to 31st March 2017 are available to view on the Cheshire East Council website.
Photo: Councillor Peter Groves, cabinet member for democratic and public engagement.
