The new salaries of Dundee city councillors were revealed last week.
Council leader John Alexander will draw an annual salary of £40,205.
Dundee’s Lord Provost, West End councillor Bill Campbell, will earn £30,154.
The level is set nationally but I argue the pay, which drops to £20,099 for councillors, is too low.
Many of them have other jobs. But a councillor should be a full-time position with a salary to attract ambitious, intelligent people.
Median pay across Scotland is £27,710 so a councillor should be a desirable career choice, with at least a £30,000 salary.
To pay for this, salaries of council officials should be cut.
Chief executive Greg Colgan earning £158,000 is obscene, as is Leisure and Culture Dundee director Judy Dobbie’s £114,000.
But for this full-time job and wage we’d need councillors to perform to real-world standards, as all other workers do.
We’d expect measurable key performance indicators.
They’d have to communicate effectively with constituents (their employers) explaining what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and why they vote as they do.
Too often, Dundee city councillors are invisible.
Then they pop up randomly to support one cause or another, but fall deathly silent when they should be accounting for themselves.
Motivated people will be brave for city
Another mandatory change, to go with the pay rise, would be a law across Scotland stipulating at least 50% of councillors be independents.
Opinions on national or constitutional matters aren’t relevant when voting on Dundee’s bin emptying, pot holes, or dog fouling.
Councillors should follow their convictions on matters like that, not do what their party tells them.
Because subservient no-marks isn’t what we want in a councillor. We want motivated people with innovative ideas and the bravery to speak up for their city. They shouldn’t be cowards, scared to do anything except toe the party line.
Wouldn’t you expect a councillor to ask why The Olympia is closed? Or complain about Dundee missing £80k “investment zone” money? Or ask why no effort was made to discover how much tax-payers forked out in the smoke alarms scandal?
None of the SNP group’s rank and file councillors said a thing about those matters. They hid: no comment, no opinion, no personality, no respect for their city.
That’s not what we need in an elected representative.
Voting for independent councillors would not affect your vote on the independence question, of course, whichever side you support. It remains your right to have your say on that in Holyrood and Westminster elections.
But for Dundee-specific matters we need people whose priority is the city. Not their party, not the career of their group leader, not their overlords at Holyrood.
So I call for a fair wage for full-time councillors, accompanied by a guarantee we get true Dundonians – bold, honest people who aren’t worker-drones for the SNP, Labour, Tory or any party.
A decent wage might produce a professional-standard council, not the hobbyists and amateur shambles we have now.
