Senior Stirling Council members will be paid £37,548 annually from April 1, councillors have agreed.
Those with designated senior councillor positions within Stirling Council were entitled to receive between £25,982 and £37,548 each per year, at the discretion of the council.
A majority of councillors moved to award senior councillors the maximum pay available at a special meeting on Thursday (March 20).
The vote was a close call, with 12 members for and 11 against.
As part of the same vote, it was decided that Lord Provost Elaine Watterson would also receive £37,548 for her role.
Other elected councillors will be paid £25,982 annually from April 1 – a rise of 21.7%, set at a national level.
Objections made to pay hikes by councillors
Two elected members raised objections to the proposed pay rises during the meeting.
Both Dunblane and Bridge of Allan’s Alasdair Tollemache and Bannockburn’s Alasdair MacPherson voted against increasing the salaries of senior councillors.
Mr MacPherson went one step further, arguing that no councillor should receive more than a 3% pay increase, matching what was being proposed for wider Stirling Council staff.
The independent said: “I’m not going to accept 21.7%.
“I can’t do that and face people I represent, I honestly can’t.
“I’ll donate that, that’s my choice.”
Mr Tollemache agreed with these points.
He also said salary rises should have been made tactically in 2027, incentivising new candidates to run as councillors.
The Green councillor claimed young people are deterred from going into local politics because the wages aren’t enough to support a family.
He said: “It’s important that we don’t put people off standing.”
On behalf of the SNP, Stirling East councillor Gerry McLaughlan also disagreed with awarding the maximum to senior councillors, stating that an annual salary of £31,323 would be sufficient.
He said the remaining money should be paid to other councillors.
Trossachs and Teith councillor Gene Maxwell, also of the SNP, objected to senior councillors being able to vote on their own pay increase.
He said: “It’s not fair, it’s not right, and it will look incredibly bad.”
Number of senior councillors increased
During Thursday’s vote, members had the opportunity to increase the number of senior councillor positions to a maximum of 10, after a recent change to the local authority banding rules.
It was decided to increase the number to eight.
However, Stirling SNP group leader and Stirling North councillor Susan McGill declined to become a senior councillor.
This suggests the situation may remain as it currently is going forward.
At the moment, six senior councillors carry out seven roles.
Stirling West Conservative councillor Neil Benny is responsible for two of these positions simultaneously.
Council leader to receive £14k pay rise
As The Courier reported earlier this week, Stirling Council leader Gerry McGarvey will receive a salary increase of more than £14,000 from April 1, as per newly amended Scotland-wide regulations.
The Labour Forth and Endrick ward councillor’s current annual pay of £35,580 will rise to £50,063 – a boost of £14,483 per year, or 40%.
During Thursday’s special council meeting, Mr McGarvey said: “I don’t think it gives anybody around this table pleasure to be in the situation where we are articulating salary increases for ourselves.”
Mr MacPherson said he hoped Mr McGarvey would consider donating some of his salary increase to worthy causes.
For more Stirling news and features visit our page or join us on Facebook
Conversation