A new 'pay package' proposed for West Sussex county councillors - which includes inflation-busting increases for members of the county cabinet - looks set to be put on hold until later in the year.
The proposals have been put forward by an independent panel, after a long period of debate and research.
The county governance committee agreed to recommend the full county council to defer a decision.
A wide range of changes is being proposed by the panel, including an increase of just over one per cent in the basic allowance paid to all councillors - from £10,894 a year to £11.209.
AllowancesSpecial responsibility allowances are paid on top of this to councillors with extra duties, and the panel is proposing an increase of more than 15 per cent for cabinet members, from £18,886 to £21,765.
A 9.48 per cent rise is proposed for the council leader, from £30,364 to £33,243.
However, there's a reduction of 6.59 per cent on the cards for the council chairman, down from £27,398 to £25,591.
A proposal by the panel, whose members include a community relations specialist, a former HR director, a retired actuary, a former university vice-chancellor and a former county chairman, to reduce the allowance for the leader of the council's principal opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, from £13,904 to £8,706, the same as a committee chairman, faced criticism at the meeting.
Cutting backSome members, both Conservative and Lib Dem, argued against this, pointing out that the political role was much more demanding than that of a committee chairman.
An even bigger reduction is proposed for the leader of the minority Labour group, which now has only two councillors, following election losses, from £13,904 to £4,353 - a cut of more than 68 per cent.
The overall extra cost of the panel proposals would be £60,000 a year, if implemented in full.
Members could come back to this later in the year, when circumstances were clearer, and the county council had been through the budget-setting process.
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