Transparency? (From The Northern Echo)

Transparency?

2:33pm Thursday 16th February 2012 in Letters

COUNCILLOR Simon Henig, the leader of Durham County Council (DCC), claimed that only 45 staff at earned more than £50,000 (Echo, Feb 9).

The statement of accounts for Durham County Council for 2010- 2011, which I assume will be a legal binding document signed off by senior staff and financial/legal teams alike, states on page 83 that 509 county council employees, including senior officers, receive more that £50,000 remuneration for the year (excluding employer’s pension contributions).

The Durham taxpayer was paying for 509 staff earning above £50,000, according to official records, minus taxpayerfunded pension contributions, including a £41,000 pension contribution for the chief executive (salary £200,000).

Can Coun Henig be wrong by a factor of more than 11, or has the council made 464 staff earning above £50,000 redundant in the past year?

Or does he need to be, as he has previously claimed, more transparent with facts and figures?

After all, it was Labour that signed the unitary bid (against a democratic vote), claiming it would save us £21m each year, a financial figure not too different to the present position that Coun Henig continues to moan about.

Transparency is needed all round, council house rents may rise by 6.2 per cent, yet as leader, Coun Henig is allowing unions free office facilities within County Hall.

It is now indefensible to ask council house tenants to pay 6.2 per cent more and continue to allow unions a rent-free existence.

Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland.