Filey Town Council defers decision on increase of mayor’s allowance until next year

The August meeting of Filey Town Council had been set to increase the town mayor’s allowance for the first time in more than a decade but the increase has now been put on hold.

A motion proposed before the meeting on Wednesday, August 9, stated: “The council to consider the recommendation from the Strategic Planning Committee to increase the mayoral allowance to £2,000 per annum.

“The mayoral allowance has not been increased in the last 11 years.”

The current annual allowance of £1,600 granted to the mayor, Cllr Jacqui Houlden-Banks, has not been increased since around 2012, according to council documents.

However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned that the increase has been put on hold and a decision will not be made until January 2024 at the earliest.

Documents published ahead of the meeting on August 9 included the motion but references to the proposed increase had been removed after the meeting.

A Town Council official said that the decision to postpone the increase was made in order to include it in next year’s budget-setting process and so that “correct procedures” were followed.

If the originally proposed motion had been approved it would have seen an annual increase of £400 as the current mayoral allowance is £1,600 according to council documents.

However, it is not clear how large a potential increase will be if it goes ahead next year.

The town’s mayor, Cllr Jacqui Houlden-Banks, was elected to office at the annual general meeting of the full council in May 2023.

The minutes of the August meeting have not yet been published by Filey Town Council.