Home   News   Article

Expense bill for Highland councillors’ plummets – with 15 councillors not making a claim for a single penny


By Andrew Dixon

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!
Councillor Alasdair Christie (left) made zero claims for the 11th year in a row, while Councillor Alister Mackinnon claimed the most expenses in 2020/21.
Councillor Alasdair Christie (left) made zero claims for the 11th year in a row, while Councillor Alister Mackinnon claimed the most expenses in 2020/21.

Expenses for Highland councillors were down by more than £150,000 last year.

Salary top-ups for mileage, meals and accommodation all dropped, most likely because the pandemic led to online meetings instead of gathering in the flesh.

The local authority used taxpayers’ money to subsidise £26,043.68 of councillors’ expenses in 2020/21.

This was down from a total of £182,784.09 for the year before and £206,903.54 in 2018/19.

Fifteen councillors did not make any expense claims for the past 12 months – up from six during the previous year.

A total of £1,462,229.09 was paid in salaries plus expenses last year – down from £1,591,343.19 in 2019/20.

There were 48 councillors who collected a smaller total in 2020/21 than the year before.

The highest total expenses claim came from former budget leader Alister Mackinnon (Dingwall and Seaforth, independent) who has a salary of £25,368.16. He had £1498.18 of expenses, including the most of any councillors for “all other expenses” (£582.27).

Councillor Matthew Reiss (Thurso and Northwest Caithness, independent) made the only claim for meals (£23.20).

The highest claim for mileage (£841.50) was made by Councillor Roddy Balfour (Culloden and Ardersier, independent), and Councillor Muriel Cockburn (Badenoch and Strathspey, SNP) topped the telephone and mobile category (£1075.10). She was the fourth highest claimant, with overall expenses of £1236.20.

Councillor Karl Rosie (Thurso and Northwest Caithness, SNP) made the only claims for accommodation (£95) and direct travel (£5.75).

A bill of £46.80 was the only one for “reimbursed other travel” and that was submitted by Councillor Margaret Paterson (Dingwall and Seaforth, independent).

Depute Inverness Provost Bet McAllister (Inverness Central, Labour) made the only surgery costs claim (£11).

Council leader Margaret Davidson (Aird and Loch Ness, independent) is the highest-paid councillor, collecting £41,661.96 salary, up from £40,764.96 in the previous year. She claimed £561.48 of expenses to pay for telephone and mobile bills.

Council convener Bill Lobban (Badenoch and Strathspey, independent) was second highest overall claimant at £1276.64.

The only other councillor to claim more than £1000 was education committee chairman John Finlayson (Eilean a’ Cheò, independent), with £1272.58.

Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael (Aird and Loch Ness, independent) claimed £258.60, while Nairn Provost Laurie Fraser (Nairn and Cawdor, independent) did not make any claims.

Depute council leader Alasdair Christie (Inverness Ness-side, Lib Dem) made zero claims for the 11th year in a row.

Other councillors to claim nil were Andrew Baxter (Fort William and Ardnamurchan, Real Independent), Bill Boyd (Inverness West, SNP), Janet Campbell (Inverness Central, independent), Kirsteen Currie (North, West and Central Sutheralnd, SNP), David Fraser (Aird and Loch Ness, independent), Derek Louden (Tain and Easter Ross, SNP), Derek MacLeod (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh, Conservative), Ron MacWilliam (Inverness Ness-side, SNP), Niall McLean (Fort William and Ardnamurchan, SNP), Pauline Munro (Cromarty Firth, Highland Matters), Alasdair Rhind (Tain and Easter Ross, independent), Ben Thompson (Caol and Mallaig, independent) and Carolyn Wilson (Cromarty Firth, independent).

READ: Highland councillor believes coronavirus will see expenses claims fall


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More