Not so fast

This morning Mervyn Storey and Jim Allister graced our airwaves to outline how they had decided to set their TUV DUP differences aside in order to avoid costing the ratepayers £25,000 by triggering a by-election in Ballymoney and the same again with a repeat performance in Craigavon. The deal as outlined meant the DUP could co-opt a replacement for Roy Wilson in Ballymoney and the TUV could do the same for their councillor Mark Russell in Craigavon.

However this afternoon Sinn Fein weighed in telling both unionist parties "not so fast". They have accused the DUP and TUV of "breathtaking arrogance". Sinn Fein's threat of a by-election is tied to the TUV's opposition to republicans co-opting a replacement for John O'Dowd.

According to SF Councillor Mairead O'Dowd "The facts of the matter are that Sinn Féin has been seeking to co-opt a replacement for Councillor John O'Dowd MLA for a considerable time in line with our policy of ending dual mandates between the Council and the Assembly. Throughout that time we have been reliably informed that the only Councillor who would object to such a co-option would be Mark Russell and that he would force a by-election in such circumstances at a cost of £25,000 to the ratepayer. The same Mark Russell now tells us that he will himself be co-opted off the Council because the DUP and the TUV have a cosy deal which, quite frankly, is worthless."

Sinn Fein wants any arrangement to include them, but the TUV has responded that if republicans force a by-election in Craigavon "we'll happily fight and beat them". the TUV says it won't seek or give any favours to Sinn Fein.

So potentially the TUV could find its deal drops apart and the ratepayers are still stung for £25,000.

Having said that it won't be the only thing ratepayers and taxpayers have to fork out for in the coming months. Clearing my desk I found the consultation paper for the severance arrangements for councillors losing their posts as part of the move from 26 to 11 councils. At a rate of £1,000 per year per councillor up to a maximum of 36 years' service the paper estimates the cost of these pay offs as anything between £5,247,000 and £4,196,000. How much depends on whether a councillor is eligible for a pay off after serving two terms or three terms.

The legislation which will provide for the severance package was introduced into the Assembly at the end of June. The consultation on the pay offs closed at the end of May but we won't know the precise details of what the Environment department intends to implement until later this year.

On the department's website you can read a synopsis of responses to the proposed pay offs. It says that 27 of those who responded were in favour of a pay off, and all but 3 of them were councils, councillors or local government organisations. The 4 members of the public who wrote in were all against, as was one councillor who argued that "there was no justification for the scheme and that it was likely to be unpopular given the current criticism about MPs' use of expenses".

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