There has been an inflation-busting rise in the expenses claims of councillors sitting on Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council.

City councillors claimed £242,804 in the financial year to April 2006 for travel and subsistence, special resp- onsibilities and other allowances.

This was £40,000 - more than 19 per cent - more than the financial year to April 2005.

Their county council counterparts claimed almost 10 per cent more compared to the year before - £818,491 in the 2005/06 financial year, £74,181 up on the £744,310 claim in 2004/05.

This means the expenses and allowance claims of city and county councillors topped £1m.

According to official statistics, the leader of the county council Keith Mitchell claimed the most in expenses - £35,628.28, nearly £3,000 a month, for his civic duties in the last year.

Mr Mitchell claimed £10,060.22 for travel and subsistence and £18,163.34 for special responsibilities to add to his £7,404.72 basic allowance.

The total he claimed was £1,275 more than he claimed in 2005/06.

The average claim for county councillors - our list includes those who retired or were defeated at the last election - was £11,060.

Meanwhile, the average claim from councillors at the city council (including those who lost their seat at last year's election) was £4,856.

Alex Hollingsworth, leader of council in 2005/06, claimed £10,774.66 while current leader John Goddard claimed £6,246.

Councillors are not paid a salary for the work they do, but can claim allowances for expenses incurred during the course of their duties.

Apart from the time they put in, these include travel, hotel, food subsistence and childcare.

Mr Mitchell, 60, also the chairman of Seera, the South East England Regional Assembly, is a former chartered accountant.

He said he could "earn a minimum of 10 times" what he claimed in expenses if he had not sold his business interests, and had previously insisted he was worth every penny of his claim.

He told the Mail: "I work 100 hours per week in this job.

"I do so because I want to make a positive contribution to society through public service.

"Fundamental to that contribution is my determination to ensure Oxfordshire's taxes are kept as low as possible, people have proper choices and they get value for money from their services."

Remuneration of councillors' expenses is determined by independent panels.

In Oxfordshire, Mr Mitchell gets £18,163 as a special responsibility allowance - 30 per cent lower than the south east average, while the backbench county councillors' basic allowance of £7,404.72 is well below the south east average of £9,964.

The average Oxford wage is £25,000 a year.

Last week, the Mail revealed next year's council tax bill for many in the city and elsewhere in county was likely to rise by at least £55 to £1,429.47 for a Band D homeowner.

This followed the news that five senior directors at the county council were in line for big pay increases in the New Year thanks to a wage review to ensure their salaries "remained competitive" and they could attract the necessary calibre of leader. Directors each earn between £100,839 and £110,952.

View from the streets

The news that city and county councillors' expenses claims had topped £1m for the first time last year was greeted with dismay.

Brian Lester, chairman of Blackbird Leys Parish Council, said: "I think it's scandalous, they just seem to be able to claim for all manner of things. If a person is genuinely losing money it would not worry me, but Keith Mitchell's full time job is as a councillor.

"The sooner we get rid of him and go unitary the better.

"That lot on the county council are not worth what we pay them. I think it's a cheek, it's disgusting."

Oxford pensioner's champion Bill Jupp, 75, campaigns for a fairer deal for the city's elderly and lives on a state pension of £84.25 a week.

He said: "In my day you didn't get paid expenses, you had to find time away from work.

"These days it seems like being a councillor is a full time profession.

"Quite frankly, someone wants to look at the whole set-up because they are grossly overpaid for what they do." "It's a matter of being prepared to put your neck on the block and doing the right thing, there is not a great deal of difficulty in the job."