It would appear from the latest published figures received here at VisitScunthorpe.Com that there are more questions than answers raised by the publication of the North Lincolnshire Council member's expenses this evening. While the figures are without question, the manner in which the council have chosen to publish their figures is certainly questionable, and sadly on behalf of the council, without explanation. You can download the full version from the council web site The published figures show the net total amounts claimed by each councillor. However, the figure shown for each member is not total cost to the council for their services as the net figure seems to take into account some element of tax / NI paid by each member. So where the total for councillors expenses is shown as �552,850.45 the actual amount in terms of cost to the council was actually �709,975.28 if you take the time to add up all the figures and ignore the Net amount published by the council. I've put all of this in to a spreadsheet that you can download so you can do the sums your self, its available here - Excel Download Perhaps if there is some one from council, or even a councillor reading this they could leave a comment below explaining why the figures are published in this way? Update - 11/6/10 09:08 Mick Grant's Blog explains how the published figures show take home expenses after tax, hence the anomaly in the net vs total is explained. Other interesting facts to take in to account centre around mileage claim allowances. According to the supplementary information provided by the council along with these expenses, we can see that councillors can claim 30pence per mile for the use of a push bike! Perhaps this explains the councils pre-occupation with cycle lanes? I'm going to have to try that one on with my accountant and see what he says! It's also interesting to note that the mileage for a car over 1,200 cc members can claim is a staggering 53.1pence per mile. I say this is staggering as the revenue will only allow 40pence per mile for businesses or the self employed when claiming against tax. Having put the eccentricities of what councillors can claim cost wise to one side for a moment, a question for you... Do you think this is value for money, or should council rolls be totally voluntary without allowances? I'd define "Without Allowance" as meaning that councillors could claim only for direct costs such as venue hire for surgeries and travel / subsistence costs. Conversely you may wish to ponder that if salary allowances were scrapped, would it be only the rich in society who would stand for election, and thus less democratic? Post your answer's below, I'll be writing about this over the weekend.