ALLOWANCES paid to county councillors for 'special responsibilities' have been slashed by almost £50,000 for next year.
A number of changes were agreed to the current allowance scheme at a meeting of the full council recently.
Savings totalling £31,722 will be achieved by changing the allow-ances received by councillors in key positions to better reflect their leve
l of responsibility for running the authority.
The basic allowance paid to all councillors will stay unchanged. Additional allowances are paid to cabinet members, committee chairmen and other key county councillors; this is to reflect their special responsibilities.
The decision to stop Lancashire Locals and review the way decisions on local services are made, which reduces the number of paid positions for councillors, will achieve a further saving of £17,372.
Ged Fitzgerald, chief executive, said: "The government has
recognised that all councillors need to be paid to help them do the job and every council has an allowances scheme.
"An independent panel makes recommendations to the council on what level the allowances should be set at and this year, thanks to the work of the panel and some organisational changes, we'll be saving nearly £50,000. All public finances are under pressure and the panel's recommendations reflect our overall budget, which will see the council deliver the same services next year for £24million less."
