POLITICAL research assistants who cost the county's taxpayers more than £200,000 over the past four years are a "waste of money", independent councillors have said.
Party groups in Gloucestershire have been allowed to appoint a researcher since April 2002 and the bill so far has been estimated at somewhere north of £500,000.
Critics claim all they do is "dig up dirt" to "slag each other off" while taking home a salary of between £23,708 and £30,011.
Councillor Mike Sztymiak (Ind, Tewkesbury) believes the roles have cost £54,000 in total in each of the last four years, with one researcher working for the Conservatives and another working for the Liberal Democrats.
However, add in the fact that the Labour group is now looking to appoint their own researcher, and the bill is likely to rise above £300,000 for the next four years.
Mr Sztymiak said: "It is taxpayer's money being used to pay for these political researchers. They are members of the party and by and large they are paid for by the public.
"I bet none of the parties put that on their campaign literature in the run up to May 2.
"By and large what they do is dig up the dirt on the other parties and that information then gets used for political point scoring in the council chamber.
"I don't think they bring anything to the table. It doesn't take much to do your own research."
He added: "I think it is a waste of public money. If the parties want them and value them they should fund them themselves or they should use their members' allowances."
The council agreed to the appointment of political researchers when it met on May 15.
Six councillors voted against while one abstained and the rest of the chamber voted in favour of the proposal.
Councillor Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, defended the appointments.
He said: "Political assistants were brought in by Labour and the Lib Dems when they ran the council and they've worked well. Gloucestershire provides limited support for councillors in comparison to many other councils and political assistants are an important part of that."
It is believed the assistants will cost around £80,000 a year for the next four years, but a spokeswoman for the council was unable to confirm this.
Supporters of the researcher role have pointed to the amount of money spent by MPs on their staff as evidence they are value for money.
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) statistics show Gloucestershire's six MPs spent almost £600,000 on their staff payroll in 2011/12.