SIC expenses down

SHETLAND Islands Council has hailed a 20 per cent drop in expenses claims from its councillors as proof of their commitment to saving money.

Council leader Gary Robinson said that an increased use of video conferencing to avoid travelling to the mainland for meetings had played a major part in bringing bills down.

Robinson comes out on top of the expenses league at more than £11,300, money reimbursed for what he spent on council business topping up a salary of more than £25,000.

Convener Malcolm Bell comes second with the much lower figure of around £7,700 with a salary of £18,000.

The largest mileage bills for attending council meetings come from the north isles’ resident councillors Robert Henderson and Gary Cleaver, followed by north mainland’s Drew Ratter and Alastair Cooper.

Ratter had the highest phone and computer communications bill of almost £800.

The figures released on Wednesday included the current 22 members and the 14 councillors from the last council who were in post for just over one month during the last financial year prior to the May elections.

Total expenses claimed by members this year was £82,610.81, compared to £102,037.20 in the previous financial year – equating to a drop of just over 19 per cent.

Robinson said he was pleased to see the expenses bill coming down.

“Over the past couple of years there’s been a real drive to cut the number of trips members make to attend meetings outwith Shetland.

“We’ve been using videoconferencing more and more, wherever that’s reasonable, and that’s really showing in this year’s figures.”