A FORMER mayor who has been reprimanded after failing to pay his council taxes has said they should be paid by the local authority.

Councillor Robbie Robertson was ordered yesterday to apologise to Lewes District Council (LDC) for telling The Argus he had missed payments last year to “see how the system worked.”

But speaking after the hearing the former mayor of Peacehaven asked why his councillor allowance should not be paid directly towards his council tax bill.

His Conservative party leader on the council called the suggestion “fundamentally wrong” and Liberal Democrat Sarah Osbourne asked that he be expelled from his party.

In October we revealed Cllr Robertson had received a court summons for non-payment of council tax and he said he had “wanted to see how the system worked”.

In a meeting of the LDC standards committee yesterday, chairwoman Isabelle Linington told Cllr Robertson his quote might encourage non-payment of tax and therefore had brought his office into disrepute. He was ordered to apologise at a full meeting of the council on February 23.

Cllr Robertson told The Argus he would be happy to apologise but could not attend the meeting due to the demands of his day job as the chauffeur for the mayor of Brighton and Hove.

He then asked: “It’s a pity that the expenses we get can’t go straight to our council tax so then no local authority would be in a position to bring a member into disrepute. It could come out of our allowances.

“They are supposed to be for stationery and PCs, but instead of getting paid what you get paid, the money for council tax could come straight from allowances.”

LDC members receive around £3,500 to compensate them for the time and expense of being councillors. Allowances – not to be confused with expenses – are treated as salary for tax purposes.

But Conservative group leader and leader of the council Andy Smith said: “Good gracious, is this for real? His whole suggestion is fundamentally wrong. Everyone has their council tax to pay.”

He said allowances should be spent on activities connected with work as a councillor.