I READ with interest Coun J H Hirst's comments (Letters, August 18) and, tongue in cheek, debated with myself whether replying to letters in the Evening Telegraph was one of the things that councillors could claim expenses for.
I also wondered whether councillors in the past read the Telegraph, presumably being too poor to purchase a copy for themselves.
I can remember the time when councillors served out of a sense of public duty, not for the fringe benefits. I do not expect councillors to be out of pocket as a result of serving on the council, but feel that payments should be only made to compensate for actual out-of-pocket expenses.
I would have thought that a salary of £3,000, (equivalent to a full-time salary of £19,000) was adequate to meet most councillors' expenses.
I repeat what I said before: councillors do not have to claim expenses.
G. SMITH, Bold Street, Blackburn.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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