Record pay for council officials revealed

At a time when pensioners and families are facing inflation-busting council tax rises, it has been revealed that 37 council officers were paid £4.3m between them, an average of £116,000 each.

Many were also given an aboveinflation pay rise.

The salaries were condemned by the TaxPayers' Alliance, which called for a curb on pay.

But the Local Government Association said officials were responsible for budgets running into tens of millions of pounds and attractive salaries were the only way of attracting the best candidates, The three top earners in the region were chief executives Ged Fitzgerald, of Sunderland City Council, John Marsden, of North Yorkshire County Council, and Ada Burns, of Darlington Borough Council. In 2006-7, they earned £174,156, £163,545 and £152,177 respectively.

Later this year, Durham County Council will become the first authority in the region to pass £200,000-a-year when it appoints its new chief executive.

The council's leader, Albert Nugent, believes the size of the salary is commensurate with the scale of the task.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council had the largest number of high wage earners, with seven officers earning more than £100,000, during 2006-7.

Councillor Chris Abbott, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: "To provide quality services you need to attract the best staff to manage the council.

"Redcar and Cleveland has gone from being a failing council to one of excellent' status and that is the result of the quality of the management teams we have in place."

Some of the biggest pay rises were at North Yorkshire County Council, where Mr Marsden's pay rose nearly 25 per cent, and two other officers had pay rises of more than ten per cent.

Councillor Bill Hoult, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group in North Yorkshire, said: "We should have known about these pay rises as elected members so we could have had some input on them."

Last night, a spokeswoman for the county council said the pay rises were because of an incremental pay-scale in place at the authority.

She said: "We are proud of the quality and ability of our senior managers, who do an excellent job individually, managing large and complex operations, and deserve the salaries they receive, which are comparable to other important public sector jobs."

Councillor Charles Johnson, deputy leader of the Conservative group in Darlington, where the borough council has three earners above £100,000, said: "Pay rises which exceed inflation give out the wrong message, there is no doubt about that, but I believe the level of pay in Darlington is in line with the rest of the region."

The findings have been criticised by the TaxPayers' Alliance, which compiled the data under the Freedom of Information Act.

Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "Too often, council executives are rewarded handsomely, even when they fail.

"Families and pensioners are struggling with the demands of yet another council tax rise, and councils owe it to them to cut back on executive pay hikes."

The TaxPayers' Alliance received no response from Easington district and York city councils.

Gateshead Council and Hambleton District Council declined to answer, while the Richmondshire and Wear Valley councils had no staff on more than £100,000.

Nationally, 818 bosses are earning more than £100,000.

Fourteen earn more than the Prime Minister's £188,000 salary, and six earn more than £200,000.

John Ransford, deputy chief executive of the Local Government Association, which represents more than 400 councils in England and Wales, said: "These figures represent 0.036 per cent of the total workforce in local government.

Councils are responsible for ensuring that more than £100bn of taxpayers' money is spent wisely.

"The people who earn these salaries are responsible for multimillion pound budgets in highly complex organisations, and to attract the best and brightest people to deliver value for money, you have to pay a suitable wage."