Mayor Damien Egan’s office costs Lewisham taxpayers around £70,000 more per year than the previous administration, figures suggest.
Lewisham could not confirm the total cost of the mayor’s office, but did confirm two new posts have been filled at £35,000 each per year.
Over the mayor’s four-year term this will cost around £280,000 more than the previous administration.
A council spokeswoman said the extra posts were filled to because the cabinet has become more active in decision-making.
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Mr Egan changed the council’s constitution to put all cabinet decisions to a vote, instead of the mayor being the sole decision-maker, after he was elected in May last year.
The spokeswoman said: “An additional two junior officers have joined the small mayor and cabinet office team to support cabinet members in their roles. The team’s workload has increased significantly in the past year as the mayor and cabinet take an increasingly active role in decision-making.”
Lewisham is one of four London councils which has a directly elected mayor, alongside Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney.
The council spokeswoman said she believed the cost of the mayor’s office to be lower than other local authorities, both with and without a directly elected mayor.
Figures suggest the seven roles in the mayor’s office, including two political assistants, costs around £230,000 per year in salaries.
The council spokeswoman said Lewisham’s strategy budget, which includes the mayor’s office as well as communications, economy and partnerships and the Young Mayor’s support team had a net budget of £2.2 million for the last year.
Lewisham has to make £30 million worth of cuts to its budget for the next two years, as a result of cuts in funding from central government, with £8 million cut from the council’s services over the next financial year.
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