INCOMING Powys chief executive Dr Caroline Turner, has been given a cash boost worth over £25,000 by Powys councillors.

This will be on top of her salary of £138,000 a year.

At the moment Dr Turner works at  the Isle of Anglesey County Council as assistant chief executive, a post she took up in 2015.

She was appointed to her new role by Powys County Council (PCC) in November 2018, and is due to take over at the helm in Llandrindod Wells on February 25,

At the Full PCC meeting on Thursday, January 24, councillors had to appoint Dr Turner to the statutory roles of:

  • head of paid service;
  • proper officer functions not allocated to other officers;
  • electoral registration officer;
  • election returning officer.

Councillor Kathryn Silk (Liberal Democrat, Bwlch,) wanted clarification of the financial implications of these roles.

Cllr Silk said : “In particular I wonder if we can have details of the fees payable to the returning officer in addition to the not insubstantial salary that the chief executive earns.

“I think the public are possibly not aware how much a returning officer, usually a chief executive,  receives in addition to their salary.

“It would be helpful for the general public to know what those fees are.”

“I would like this to be made publicly known.”

Cllr Gary Price, (non-aligned, Llandrindod North), said:  “Why do we have to pay those additional fees above the the salary?

“Do we have to pay the fees of returning officer? Can we decide not to pay them?”

Council solicitor and monitoring officer, Clive Pinney, said: “The Welsh Government are currently looking at this very issue and so going on in the future that may not be the case.

“But for now we are where we are at this moment in time.”

There are five sets of fees, some of which are set by external bodies:

  • Parliamentary elections fees which are set at Westminster – £2,685 for Brecon and Radnorshire and £2,500 for Montgomeryshire.
  • Welsh Assembly  election fees of £4,730 for  Brecon and Radnorshire and for Montgomeryshire it’s £4,730.
  • Elections for Police and Crime Commissioner (set by the Police and Crime Commissioner Board) – £2,870 for Brecon and Radnorshire  and  £2,574 for Montgomeryshire.
  • European Elections (which may not happen again) – £5,952.
  • Local Government elections £110 per contested ward and £55 per uncontested ward.