A former Lord Mayor of Liverpool has hit out at fees being claimed by commissioners overseeing the city.
Cllr Anna Rothery said the thousands of pounds in expenses claimed by the Whitehall-appointed officials working at Liverpool Council was an “utter betrayal” of the trust placed to them by the city to “do the right thing.”
As detailed yesterday, the four commissioners appointed by the Government last June following the damning Caller Report claimed more than £6,500 for travel, hotels and meals in five months.
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This comes after a substantial and controversial pay rise was reluctantly signed off by Liverpool Council at the taxpayers’ expense in January.
In an email to Mayor Joanne Anderson, seen by the LDRS, Cllr Rothery said the expenses that had been claimed by the commissioners were “excessive”.
She said: “Facing some of the worst cuts in a generation, coupled with the soaring cost-of-living, we now witness one of the most appalling best value exercises in the city.
“The very same people sent into the city to complete a best value exercise have had a 50% rise in income backdated to July, it is also coupled with excessive expenses for food and accommodation.”
The figures revealed that lead commissioner Mike Cunningham claimed a total of £1,251.63 on rail travel, hotels, car mileage and food between June and November, alongside £69,041 in fees.
Jo Killian claimed £1,184.72 in expenses in her first six months working in Liverpool, on top of £44,000 in fees.
Deborah McLaughlin claimed back a total of £1,032.22 in expenses as well as £63,533 between June and November 2021.
Neil Gibson claimed the most expenses of the four commissioners in the first six months, with a total of £3,007 on hotels, travel and food costs - on top of the £85,379.62 in fees received.
Writing to Mayor Anderson, Cllr Rothery questioned why a vacancy was being advertised for a policy support officer to support the commissioners, asking why they needed “policy support as (a) specialist in the field?”
She added that the additional support “smacks of being another way to remove already limited finance from a city facing cruel cuts of £34 million, a figure due to escalate in future years.”
Princes Park Cllr Rothery said: “It is an insult to those elected members who are working hard and attempting to set a legal no cuts budget and the people of our city, who are struggling to pay rent, stock food cupboards and heat their homes.
“It is also an utter betrayal of the trust placed in the city, to do the right thing. The fact that this request has gone unchallenged proves that too much power resides in the hands of central government and the commissioners themselves.”
Cllr Rothery added that she hoped to receive a response from the Mayor as to whether the pay rise had been referred to the council’s Standards and Ethics Committee to be scrutinised.
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