Our West Berks Councillors, General costs Options

[Exhausted]

A look through the costs for West Berkshire councillors was quite interesting. There are some members who serve on the council and are, in some cases, portfolio holders, who appear to have high attendance records and reasonable or no expenses claims.
These can be viewed on the WBC web site at www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3513

There is one councillor though who seems to stand out well above most of them and that is Councillor Joe Mooney Conservative Birch Copse (Tilehurst) and portfolio holder for Community Care.
Apart from the level of expenses for mileage, parking, rail fare and accommodation, each year he draws £6,149 as a council member and £8,197 for being the portfolio holder on the executive committee.
This might seem reasonable other than since May 2011 he should have attended 44 meetings, he actually only attended 28. I’m sure that he had his reasons for this record of attendance but this is not borne out by his expenses.

Expenses are for 2910/11/12/and 13

Mileage allowance £7,201
Parking £245
Rail fares £687
Conference attendance £425

Allen Law at the other end of the scale, although his expenses are higher than normal, his record tells the story. Councillor for Basildon, on the exec committee and portfolio holder for Finance, Economic development, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Pensions and finally Property.

Attendance record 108 meetings scheduled and attended 92 in the same period.
Remuneration as a council member £6,149 Exec member £8,197
Mileage allowance £9,723