THE top earners at Darlington Borough Council should take a ten per cent pay cut to help the authority get through the recession, a councillor has claimed.

Liberal Democrat Coun Peter Freitag called for the chief executive and directors to review their own wages before making cuts to services.

Last month, cabinet members rubber-stamped cuts worth £4.7m in the budget for the coming year, which included the loss of 41 jobs.

"I'm concerned that these high paid officials are not willing to give up anything," he said.

"If they gave up ten per cent of their salaries it would save a lot of money. They would be doing something that even the bankers are beginning to do."

"There needs to be a whole management structure review. There are managers with only one person under them.

"Budgets are tight at the moment, why don't we look at those who earn over £80,000 a year. Some earn more than £150,000.

"The public sector is often paid much more but delivers much less than the private sector.

"They want to make cuts, but they are looking at the wrong end, but that's the way it always happens. The people in charge of cutting are not going to cut themselves."

The council declined to reveal the salaries earned by the chief executive, her assistant, and the directors yesterday, but The Northern Echo understands that chief executive Ada Burns earns £152,973 a year. In comparison George Garlick, the chief executive of the newly created Durham County Council unitary authority earns £200,000, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown earns £187,611.

Coun John Williams, the council's Labour leader, hit back at Coun Freitags comments and accused him of trying to generate publicity for the Liberal Democrats ahead of the general election.

"What Coun Freitag is saying is nothing to do with the council's senior management, it is all about Coun Freitag acting as a front for Coun Mike Barker, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the coming general election," he said.

"Liberal Democrats simply want to generate a soundbite story for the local press.

"Sensible Darlington people will not be taken in by this."