Council comes under fire from within for hike in big salaries
The number of senior staff earning more than £50,000 at St Edmundsbury Borough Council has risen by more than 25 per cent in one year.
The council's recently published annual statement of accounts show there were 22 staff earning more than 50,000 in the financial year 2008/09, compared to 16 the previous year.
The figures disclose the number of staff in pay bands of 10,000.
In 2007/08, eight staff earned between 50,000 and 59,999 – a year later that had risen to 12.
And the number of staff earning 60,000-69,999 doubled from four in 2007/08 to eight last year.
The figures have been criticised by Cllr Trevor Beckwith, an Independent who represents Moreton Hall on the borough council, and who is also a newly-elected member of Suffolk County Council.
"People are struggling, times are hard and everybody should think before they take these huge amounts," he said.
The council had told him that the levels of salary were required to get the 'right people', he said.
But Cllr Beckwith, who said there were a lot of good lower level staff working in local government, questioned whether the salaries for senior staff were really necessary.
"All we hear from local government is that we have to do what central government tells us.
"Do we need these top decision makers on huge salaries if all they are doing is following central Government dictate?"
The biggest earner at the council in 2007/08 was chief executive Deborah Cadman, who left her 120,000-129,999 job last June to take the helm at the East of England Development Agency.
She was not replaced until October, when her husband Geoff River stepped into the role, at the time for a reported figure of between 100,000 to 130,000.
However, the new figures reveal he was paid 90,000-99,999 in 2008/09, as he did not work a full year.
A council spokeswoman said: "The salary bill for this group of 22 people actually fell 16,000 – there have been no new posts."
She said staff had been given a 2.75 per cent pay rise, taking some of them over the 50,000 threshold, while individuals may have also been rewarded for good performance.
Meanwhile, the report revealed that the number of staff earning 70,000 to 79,999 dropped from one in 2007/08 to none in 2008/09, while those earning 80,000 to 89,999 dropped from two to one.
n A senior figure at the borough council is to leave later this year after almost 20 years with the authority.
Mike Dawson, corporate director for community – one of the highest paid jobs at the council – is to leave in September to become chief executive of Tewksbury Borough Council.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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