York Press: £100k-plus wages for council chiefs questioned

By Gavin Aitchison

COUNCIL chiefs in our region have defended the six-figure salaries paid to their top officers.

Local authority bosses came under fire after the Tax Payers' Alliance revealed 800 council officials nationwide were on more than £100,000 a year.

The list includes 11 officials in our region - one at City of York Council, five at North Yorkshire County Council and five at East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The highest earner in our region is North Yorkshire chief executive John Marsden, who was on £163,545 in 2006/07 - up 24.2 per cent from the previous year.

In York, chief executive Bill McCarthy is on a performance-related pay scale, which will give him an annual salary of £130,000 to £145,000. His predecessor David Atkinson, who left the post last year, was on just under £118,000.

Simon Wiles, director of resources at City of York Council, said: "In setting the salary for the new chief executive of City of York Council, Bill McCarthy, who started with the council last October, we took into consideration the salaries paid to chief executives at other comparable unitary councils.

"We also took into consideration the roles and responsibilities that go with the job, given that it is in effect a 24/7 post, with a high public profile."

Mark Wallace, the TaxPayers' Alliance's campaigns director, said: "We are glad to see a system of performance-related pay being instituted, but it's very important that it genuinely is performance-related. We and tax payers will want to see details of how it is calculated and assessed. People should be able to link what is happening in their street with the pay decision made at city hall. That said, I think it is slim consolation for people to be told that it's performance-related when the minimum amount being paid has been increased so much."

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "Despite being one of the largest local authorities in the country and being one of the most successful, with an excellent four-star rating, we continue to pay our senior managers at the middle of the range, compared with other authorities, many of which are significantly smaller.

"Chief officers, like the vast majority of council staff, are on an incremental pay scale with progression based on good performance."

A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: "The people who earn these salaries are responsible for multi-million pound budgets in a highly complex organisation and to attract the best and brightest people to deliver value for money you have to pay a suitable salary.

"When senior salaries in the private sector are compared to senior salaries in the public sector, the taxpayer gets very good value for money."

He said only a tiny proportion of the council's staff were on more than £100,000.

Highest paid council officials in our region

City of York Council

Bill McCarthy (chief executive): £130,000 - £145,000

North Yorkshire County Council

John Marsden (chief executive): £163,545

Derek Law (director of adult and community services): £119,017

Cynthia Wellbourne (director of children's services): £118,050

John Moore (director of finance and central services): £117,867

Gordon Gresty (director of business and environmental services): £117,596

East Riding of Yorkshire:

Nigel Pearson (chief executive): £156,107

Sue Lockwood (director of corporate resources): £112,948

Barry Adams (director of corporate policy and strategy): £112,921

Hugh Roberts: (director of customer services): £112,290

Alison Waller (director of children, family and adult services): £102,229

All salaries are for as in the financial year 2006/07, except Bill McCarthy's which is for 2007/08