MORE than £17,000 was spent on civic hospitality for the Lord Mayor of York last year – and the total bill for the role topped £100,000.

City of York Council’s accounts for 2010/11 showed that £9,601.75 was paid out for food – but no wine – at events organised as part of the civic party’s duties for the year, with an additional £1,270.30 being used to pay for the annual civic dinner.

A further £258.72 was spent on Christmas cards during the year – when Sue Galloway, who was a Westfield councillor at the time, held the role – while the annual Lord Mayor’s Day cost £3,743.08. The total hospitality bill came to £17,159.18.

The accounts also showed a separate list of costs associated with the mayoralty, including staff wages, uniforms and the running and maintenance of vehicles, totalled £107,405.35, with £7,380 consisting of “special allowance” allocations to cover expenses accumulated by the Lord Mayor and the Sheriff of York, a position held by former Haxby and Wigginton councillor Richard Watson in 2010/11.

During her year in office, Mrs Galloway and the civic party helped to raise £45,000 for her two chosen charities, the British Heart Foundation and Our Celebration. The hospitality costs are not connected to this charitable work, which is supported by teams of volunteers.

Dawn Steel, the council’s head of civic and democratic services, said: “As the first citizen of the city, the Lord Mayor nominates two York charities per year which the mayor fundraises for, and the amount generated is usually £30,000-plus.

“The civic party also actively promote business in the city by hosting a number of events throughout the year, which range from business breakfasts at the Mansion House through to greeting local, national and international visiting dignitaries and officials.

“The Lord Mayor also carries out a significant amount of work in the community, from visiting schools and elderly people’s homes to ceremonial duties connected with Remembrance Sunday.”

Meanwhile, £20,022.89 was spent on repairs and maintenance to the Lord Mayor’s official residence, the Mansion House, in 2010/11.

The overall bill for the St Helen’s Square building was £139,334.02, including £17,802 in business rates, £1,460.16 in window-cleaning costs and £3,187.50 for advertising and publicity.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Cost of mayor is well worth it

THERE may be some who feel that, at a time of public spending cuts, £120,000 is a lot of money for York council to devote to a purely ceremonial role. That is how much the authority spent supporting the Lord Mayor in the 2010/11 financial year. The money went on everything from civic hospitality to the cost of staff, wages and uniforms.

We don’t agree that it was money badly spent, however. Yes, the Lord Mayor is a largely ceremonial position, but it is also a hugely important one.

The mayor acts as an ambassador for the city, representing us at home and abroad. The role also brings a touch of welcome pageantry, emphasising York’s history, and its ancient role as the capital of the north. We can be rightly proud of the fact that our Lord Mayor ranks second only to the Lord Mayor of London.

The mayor undertakes hundreds of engagements every year, bringing cheer and goodwill and often throwing a spotlight on the efforts of ordinary people to make York a better place.

He or she also, through the Lord Mayor’s charities, raises a great deal of money for good causes. Given all this, we think that £120,000 is money well spent.

We look forward to the Lord Mayor – David Horton at the moment, Keith Hyman from May – playing a key role in the city’s York 800 celebrations, not least by welcoming the Queen in April.

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