THE leader of Kirklees Council, Mehboob Khan, is the best paid councillor in West Yorkshire, new figures have revealed.
The Labour chief pockets £68,435 a year for his public duties, a hefty £1,316 per week.
Embarrassingly, news that Coun Khan tops the county’s pay scale comes in the week that Kirklees was forced to axe £7.1 million from this year’s budget.
And it comes as the authority embarks on a four-year plan to slash spending by 25 per cent and cut 1,500 jobs.
At Wednesday’s full council meeting it was revealed that up to 50 senior managers will go from September, saving between £2 million and £3 million.
The council’s Tory leader Coun Robert Light was also revealed as one of the highest-paid councillors, taking home £46,766 a year.
Coun Khan, elected as council leader on a four-year term in May, receives £25,155 for the role as leader and a basic allowance of £12,566, paid to all 69 Kirklees councillors.
The rest of his income comes from part-time posts with other local, regional and national bodies.
His other paid roles include: £9,410 as vice-chairman of West Yorkshire Fire Authority; £7,882 as a board member of the Kirklees Primary Care Trust; and £7,418 from the Standards Board for England, the councillors’ watchdog body.
Kirklees pays its leader less than the other four West Yorkshire authorities but Coun Khan out-strips the other leaders with his outside earnings.
In a statement Coun Khan said he received a total of £37,000 from Kirklees and he had no other paid employment as council leader was his full-time role.
He added: “The leader allowance for Kirklees is the lowest in West Yorkshire.
“The allowances reflect the complex nature and dedication required of these posts, with the council leader and deputy working seven days a week and clocking up 70 to 80 hours every week.
“We have responsibility for the seventh biggest metropolitan authority in the country, 11,000 staff plus all schools staff, an overall budget of more than £1 billion gross, and while the position often gives a role on other bodies, the first priority is the people of Kirklees.
“Allowances – both basic councillor and special responsibility allowances – are independently set. Other allowances are made up from performing a number of non-Kirklees Council roles.”
Coun Light receives £22,386 from Kirklees, which breaks down as the £12,566 basic allowance and £9,820 as Tory group leader.
The rest comes for his work on the Environment Agency, the Local Government Association and Firebuy, a fire service procurement agency.
Coun Light is a former council leader and ex-chairman of West Yorkshire Fire Authority.
Coun Light said councillors were up front about their earnings and it was all in the public domain.
He said outside roles allowed councillors to broaden their experience and pick up new ideas and ways of working to improve services in Kirklees.
Councillors are expected to devote 20 hours a week to ward work in exchange for the £12,566 basic allowance and Coun Light said if anyone should face scrutiny it should be Cabinet members who also had full-time jobs.
Cabinet members are paid £12,274 on top of their basic allowance.