Councillor accuses Prestatyn Town Council of ‘cooking books'
By contrast, in the following two months, the town council's net salaries figures were £6,464 and £6,396 respectively.
Cllr Frobisher, who was elected on to the town council in July, has raised the matter with Audit Wales.
He has also queried why the town council has paid more than £2,000 to law firm Gamlins, and in excess of £20,000 to Marches HR Ltd, since the start of 2024.
All of these payments are included on town council meeting agendas, posted on its website.
There is no suggestion that the town council should not have used or paid for these companies' services, but Cllr Frobisher has criticised its lack of transparency.
Payments to Gamlins are marked as either 'legal services' or 'employment assistance,' while some payments to Marches were labelled 'HR Investigation'.
Prestatyn Town Council offices, Nant Hall Road (Image: GoogleMaps) Cllr Frobisher said: "During my first finance committee meeting on July 30, I questioned the amount spent by the council on wages in April.
'The chair of the committee refused to answer my question in open forum, so the meeting went into 'Part 2', which is the exclusion of public and staff.
'For legal reasons, I cannot say what was discussed in Part 2, but suffice to say, I still did not get an answer after several times of asking.
"I am very concerned as to why £60,000 was spent on wages and the several other accounting anomalies in the accounts presented to the meeting, which are presently available online on the town council website.
'This is public money, and if the chair and other town councillors cannot answer my question, the council is not being open, honest and accountable.
"I was elected with a simple mandate; to represent residents of Prestatyn. It has put me in a difficult position that I feel I must request the Audit Wales examines the council's accounting procedures.'
Prestatyn Town Council's last payment to Gamlins concerns 'legal services between March 4 and April 1, 2025'.
On March 31, it reached a settlement with a former employee, avoiding the possibility of an employment tribunal.
The Journal made a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the town council about this matter, including the value of the settlement, but this was refused; it has since been referred to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Cllr Frobisher added: 'It doesn't take a member of the public to ask the questions about the town's accounting.
'The settlement (with the former employee) cannot be lumped into wages, as it is not wages. I think that is cooking the books, and false accounting.'
Another FOI request regarding the settlement was made by former Prestatyn councillor, Paul Penlington.
Mr Penlington made a complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and the Information Commissioner's Office after his request to the town council was also refused.
"Residents have a right to know how their money is being spent," he said.
"If the council has acted properly, there should be no issue in disclosing basic financial summaries. Their refusal only fuels suspicion."
Prestatyn Town Council, Gamlins Law and Marches HR were approached for comment.
Prestatyn Town Council payments to Gamlins Law since 2024
Total - £2,347.92
Prestatyn Town Council payments to Marches HR since 2024
Total - £20,058.33
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