ANOTHER of Scotland's top tier of local government officials will lose his payment for overseeing the local election, following an error that saw postal vote ballot papers issued with faulty guidance.
Gavin Whitefield, North Lanarkshire Council's chief executive, will lose his £3964 returning officer's fee, while two other North Lanarkshire officials will forfeit their salaries for their deputy roles.
A report in front of the council this week confirms pledges by the authority at the time the issue came to light that the public purse would not have to pay for the mistake, which saw 26,500 given wrong instructions.
The cost of rectifying the error and sending out fresh instructions ran to £16,000.
The shortfall in meeting this figure will be met by cuts to performance-related pay the trio are due.
Last month, it emerged that George Black, chief executive of Glasgow City Council, lost his £4000 returning officer's cash after it emerged a week after the poll that an entire ballot box had not been counted in the Langside. The subsequent recount did not change the outcome.
A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: "Following the discovery of an error on a postal vote advice slip and the immediate reissue of that advice, the returning officer made it clear that there would be no cost to the public purse. The returning officer and his deputies will not be taking their election fees.
"Any shortfall from that process in respect of the estimated £16,000 cost will be met through other deductions, most likely from any performance-related pay."
The guidance leaflet wrongly included an illustration featuring the cross in a box of the old voting system rather than the preferences indicated by numbers in line with the Single Transferable Voting system now used in local elections.
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