....and that is for working part-time.

LEADING York councillors could get hefty new "wages" under a revised payments structure drawn up for the local authority.

An independent panel has suggested City of York Council leader Rod Hills could qualify for as much as £50,628 a year if he worked full-time under the recent local government shake-up in York.

But he says his work will be part-time, which the panel says should earn him £37,971.

His deputy, Dave Merrett, would pick up £38,085 full-time or £28,568 if he worked part-time, and opposition leader Coun Steve Galloway would pocket £21,233, or £37,971 for full-time work.

Part of their pay would be reward for specialist work representing a department of the council.

Other council members would get a range of payments, stretching down to the ordinary members who would be paid £5,043 for their work, which includes participation in full council meetings, ward committees and surgeries.

The proposals would be introduced over a three-year period.

Coun Hills said: "We didn't want to do anything that didn't carry the support of all parties, and luckily that was not difficult to achieve because it is not my idea. The proposals come from a panel totally independent of the council."

He said many Labour members would work part-time.

If Coun Hills worked full-time, the level of payments is comparative to a parliamentary secretary in Westminster, according to the report. Proposed expenses for a full-time member of York's Executive are comparable to a Westminster MP.

The way members of the council are paid has been reviewed as part of a recent local authority shake-up imposed by the Government.

The panel City of York Council recruited included the Dean of York, the Very Reverend Raymond Furnell, Roland Harris, Chief Executive of the Chamber of Commerce, and other local and national figures.

They looked at ways to recompense members for the amount of work carried out and compensate them for loss of salary and increase incentives to serve in local politics.