Cheshire East councillors netted more than £1.25 million between them in expenses and allowances in 2020-21, latest figures show.
A basic allowance of £12,351 is paid to each of the 82 elected members, adding up to just short of £1 million.
And “special responsibility” allowances paid to those councillors taking on extra roles such as chairing committees amounted to around £245,000.
Travel expenses cost more than £6,200.
In total, £1,252,495.42 was paid out to councillors in 2020-21, despite the country being in lockdown for large parts of the year with travel banned or discouraged and meetings held virtually.
Council Leader and Labour Group Leader Sam Corcoran (pictured) netted the most, more than £39,000. He is also chair of the Corporate Policy Committee.
Deputy Leader of the Council Cllr Craig Browne received £31,455, including almost £2,000 in travel expenses.
He is also Leader of the Independent Group, chairs the Highways and Transport Committee and is vice-chair of the Appointments Committee.
Cllr Corcoran, Cheshire East Council chair of corporate policy committee, said: “These allowances represent a fair reimbursement for the time and personal costs incurred by elected members when carrying out their responsibilities on behalf of the council and the residents of Cheshire East.
“I wish to thank our democratic services team for their hard work in presenting this schedule of allowances in a timely manner.
“We are a large unitary authority, with 82 elected members and the total cost of allowances is proportionate and in line with most other unitary authorities in England.”
The allowances published cover the financial year from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
You can view the full expenses and allowances figures for CEC councillors in 2020-21 here.
If a person is given an allowance do they have to provide receipts to show how the money is spent? Any money they don’t spend should that not be returned to the public purse. In my eyes the allowance ceases to be an allowance and more of a wage if the same basic allowance is given to everybody yet will be used in many different ways with people overspending claiming more, ie travel and those not spending it all keeping the remainder.