COUNTY councillors received nearly £1.8million of taxpayers’ money in expenses and allowances last year, according to official figures published this week.

Kent County Council’s 84 members were paid £1.78million in 2006-2007, an increase of nearly £35,000 on the previous year and an average of £21,283 each.

Allowances are set and reviewed by an independent remuneration panel, which sets the level of basic allowances paid to all councillors as well as additional allowances paid to those with special responsibilities, such as the council leader and cabinet members.

In Kent County Council’s case, every councillor is entitled to £12,000 as a basic allowance. Cabinet members receive an additional £26,650 on top of that.

The figures show Conservative council leader Paul Carter received the highest amount, £56,769. That sum included £41,000 he receives as council leader, along with £3,768 in mileage claims.

Deputy council leader Cllr Alex King received £38,700 while Labour opposition group leader Cllr Mike Eddy received £39,884, including a special responsibility allowance of nearly £25,000 for being the formal opposition leader.

Cllr Nick Chard (Con), KCC’s cabinet member for finance, said the overall sum represented a fraction of the authority’s yearly budget of some £1.5billion. Many members, particularly those in the cabinet, did as many hours a week as those with full-time jobs, he added.

"It represents something like less than 0.1 per cent of our spending. No councillor does the job because of the financial rewards but because we want to make a contribution and try and improve things for people," he said.

County councillors' allowances, 2006-2007

KCC Cabinet

Cllr Paul Carter (KCC leader): £56,769

Cllr Alex King (KCC deputy leader: £38,700

Cllr John Simmonds (Education): £44,033

Cllr Nick Chard (Finance): £42,608

Cllr Tony Robinson (Children/family services): £34,438

Cllr Mike Hill (Communities): £43,292

Cllr Kevin Lynes (Adult Social Care): £43,731

Cllr Keith Ferrin (Highways/environment): £42,462

Cllr Roger Gough (Regeneration): £34,092

Cllr Graham Gibbens (Public Health): £43,093

Opposition party leaders:

Cllr Mike Eddy (Labour): £39,884

Cllr Trudy Dean (Liberal Democrat): £12,480

Note: All figures include mileage claims, other expenses, basic allowances (£12,000 for each member) and special responsibility allowances. Source: KCC