Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has published its members' salaries for the year 2010-11.

The £816,668 paid out to the council's 43 elected members is a reduction of more than £4,500 from last year's figure of £821,249.

Members' salaries (formerly called allowances) are paid at basic and senior rates. Senior rates (formerly Special Responsibility Allowance) are paid to members that hold particular responsibilities beyond their duties as a ward member.

The majority of members have not accepted any increase in their basic or special responsibility allowances since December 2008.

This is despite a recommendation by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) in 2010 that the maximum payable for each should rise. The council accepted this recommendation, but most members chose not to accept the new allowance rate.

The council leader, Councillor Peter Fox, topped the bill with £44,244 – the equivalent to £851 a week – including a senior rate of more than £27,000 and travel allowance of more than £3,500.

He said: "Being a councillor requires a huge amount of time.

"That obviously impacts on your ability to hold a full time job. So it's only right that members receive an annual allowance, which is now recognised as a basic salary, to reflect that."

For the full story and the full list of councillors' salaries, see this week's Monmouthshire Beacon.