Wednesday 25 April 2012

Town Hall Fat Cats!

I have often posted about the inflation of local government salaries which in recent years have gone through the roof at the same time that services are being cut countrywide. Today I noticed that the Taxpayer's Alliance had published their Town Hall Rich List for 2012 so I had a quick look at Charnwood Borough Council and I am outraged!


Charnwood is not a large area really. It comprises Loughborough and a few surrounding Leicestershire villages so I was amazed to discover that we fund 12 council officials all of whom are paid over £100,000! Top of the heap is the Chief Executive who has a salary package of £122,000 but that is not all. Two senior officers, The Director of Development and the Director of Partnerships and Customer Services had salary increases last year of over 96%!! They already earned over £82,000 in 2010 so now they are earning over £160,000. This at a time when they have closed public toilets in the town and allowed local brooks to silt up.


I cannot imagine any other walk of life when officials (public servants) would be granted a doubling of their salary in one year. My anger is reserved for the useless councillors we have elected because they are the protectors of the public purse locally. They must have sanctioned these increases and then hidden it from the public. 


I then turned my attention on County Hall (Leicestershire County Council). They have been cutting services and laying people off for years. They have a Chairman who is serving under suspicion of fraudulent activity and refuses to resign but it takes 29 members of staff with salaries in excess of £100,000 to administer Leicestershire! The Chief Executive earns £230,000! 


Once again Councillors who should be protecting the public purse are engaged in a charade. Nobody in local government should be earning more than the Prime Minister. This is Leicestershire it is not Surrey or Berkshire!


I get the impression that Town Hall government has descended into the abyss and we allow it. The job titles are deliberately nebulous obscuring the functions that these people undertake. It is a farce and once again stems from an unhealthy association with Brussels. Visit the Town Hall Rich List and see what you are paying for and then you will be armed the next time a councillor comes knocking on your door asking for your vote!

3 comments:

bewick said...

Suspect BB that 96% was a misprint and the true figure is 9.5 or 9.6,
There is no way that a Departmental Director would earn more than the Chief Exec. Then again these small district officials always inflated their own salaries on the false premise that otherwise they might be "poached". Oooh there must be a queue of people looking to recruit 3rd division staff.

bryboy said...

Hello Bewick...the figures seem authentic but we'll soon know because I have sent them to the local paper. No matter the figures relating to the County Council are worse where the Chairman is under suspicion of fraud. When the opposition submitted a proposal asking him to resign, the Tories all backed him on party political grounds. It illustrated just how morally bankrupt our local politicians are so nothing surprises me.

bewick said...

80% + of local politicians have always been morally bankrupt. I can count on one hand those whom I respected - over 30 years of working in LG. Many officers were little better. Not all though - some were highly professional and totally committed.