£25k cash boost for new Powys CEO

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Incoming Powys chief executive, Dr Caroline Turner, has been given a cash boost worth over £25,000 by Powys councillors on top of her annual salary of £138,000.

At the moment, Dr Turner works at the Isle of Anglesey County Council as assistant chief executive, a post she took up in 2015. She was appointed to her new role by Powys County Council (PCC) in November 2018, and is due to take over at the helm in Llandrindod Wells on February 25.

At the latest full Council meeting, councillors had to appoint Dr Turner to the statutory roles of:

·      head of paid service

·      proper officer functions not allocated to other officers

·      electoral registration officer

·      election returning officer

But Councillor Kathryn Silk wanted clarification of the financial implications of these roles.

Cllr Silk said: “In particular I wonder if we can have details of the fees payable to the returning officer in addition to the not insubstantial salary that the chief executive earns.

“I think the public are possibly not aware how much a returning officer, usually a chief executive, receives in addition to their salary. It would be helpful for the general public to know what those fees are. I would like this to be made publicly known.”

Cllr Gary Price said: “Why do we have to pay those additional fees above the the salary? Do we have to pay the fees of returning officer? Can we decide not to pay them?”

Council solicitor and monitoring officer, Clive Pinney, said: “The Welsh Government are currently looking at this very issue and so going on in the future that may not be the case. But for now we are where we are at this moment in time.”

There are five sets of fees, some of which are set by external bodies:

·      Parliamentary elections fees which are set at Westminster – £2,685 for Brecon and Radnorshire and £2,500 for Montgomeryshire.

·      Welsh Assembly election fees of £4,730 for Brecon and Radnorshire and for Montgomeryshire it is £4,730.

·      Elections for Police and Crime Commissioner (set by the Police and Crime Commissioner Board) – £2,870 for Brecon and Radnorshire and  £2,574 for Montgomeryshire.

·      European Elections (which may not happen again) – £5,952.

·      Local Government elections £110 per contested ward and £55 per uncontested ward.