Kathleen Robertson Interview

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Transcript

00:00Councillor Lawrence gave examples at the debate about two councillors in the last term, one

00:10of whom was claiming universal credit, and even in this term there's quite a few councillors

00:15who are on second jobs. It looks like a huge increase, which admittedly it is in comparison,

00:21but it has brought it up to the fact that there are now 24 council leaders all on the

00:25same wage, which is much more equitable and much fairer because we all do the same hours.

00:31The role of being a councillor is very unique. We don't have bosses. We all do the job differently,

00:36but what I can say is that if you are chairing a committee, there are an awful lot more meetings

00:42than if you're just an ordinary councillor, and that has to be recognised. People need

00:46to be rewarded for the amount of extra work that they do put in, and that's across any

00:50job. There are different pots of money within councils. So, for example, regeneration of

00:55Elgin Town through either the levelling up fund or the Moray growth deal or through the

00:59Elgin Town Board, these are bring fenced or directed spends from specific pots of money.

01:03The councillor's agreed position from the meeting was that the senior responsibility

01:10allowances would be at the lower end of the recommended banding, so any money that's been

01:15saved from that will go back into our general reserve. It is difficult to talk about your

01:21own remuneration in public, but it's the right thing to do, because at the end of the day,

01:25we are being paid from the public purse, and I think the reason we have attracted so much

01:30attention, because I think we're the first council to actually put a paper up and make

01:34it public, they haven't been increased for a number of years, so I think there's an element

01:38of, you know, there has to be a little bit of catch-up. Do I think it's worth it? Well,

01:41that's for the electorate to decide. There's an election in 2027, and if people think that

01:46they want to earn what I'm doing for the job I'm doing, then please come forward and stand

01:50for election.