North Yorkshire Council chiefs say councillors who do not agree with an increase in their allowances do not have to accept the money.
Members of the authority this week voted in favour of a recommendation to increase their allowances by 3.6 per cent for 2026/27.
The rise takes the basic allowance from £17,340 to £17,964 for the upcoming financial year.
Allowances for councillors’ extra responsibilities will also rise at the same rate.
The increases mean the annual bill for the council’s member allowances will rise to more than £1.6m a year.
Before the vote, Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Mason told the meeting of the full council on Wednesday that he had “deep reservations” about the increase.
He said:
“On one hand of the council, we complain that we have to make cuts everywhere.
“We’re complaining that we’ve got to tighten our budgets but then we’re asking that we should pay ourselves more money.
“I can’t justify sitting in meetings with local residents and saying I voted to put my allowance up, so I’ll be voting against this.”
Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright, leader of the Labour Group on the council, said he could understand why some councillors questioned why they were giving themselves a raise.
But he added that the number of meetings and briefings councillors needed to attend meant they were paid “far less” than the minimum wage.
He said:
“I think we’ve got an independent panel and we have almost a responsibility to respect what they say
“And if members don’t want their allowance, they don’t have to take it. Simple as that.”
Councillor Grathe Dadd, deputy leader of the Conservative-led council, agreed.
“Two or three years ago, we had a lot of the Lib Dem group one by one stand up saying times are hard, times are tough, we shouldn’t be awarding ourselves a rise.
“And I said at the time, and I’ll repeat it again today because it’s worth repeating, you’ve got the right to refuse if that’s how you believe you wish to go.”
The majority of councillors voted in favour of the increase after the debate.
Members also supported a proposal to recommend to the independent remuneration panel, which recommended the rise, that they meet every four years in future.
Allowances would then increase automatically between meetings based on inflation or linked to increases received by officers.
Senior councillors say this will prevent the issue from being used as a “political football”.
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