NEARLY 30 officers at Test Valley Borough Council earned more than £50,000 a year in the last financial year, with the chief executive’s total pay package rising to nearly £150,000.
The figures have prompted calls for the authority to slash its number of “fat cats” and introduce a pay cap of £79,000 a year.
In 2013/14, a total of 28 employees were paid at least £50,000, with three of them on more than £95,000 excluding pension contributions.
Chief executive Roger Tetstall’s total remuneration, including pension contributions, was £148,000 – up on the £130,000 in 2012/13 and higher than the Prime Minister’s £142,000 salary.
The year-on-year rise was partly due to the £13,700 he received as the local returning officer for elections held in the year.
Independent county councillor Tony Hooke is campaigning for a salary cap of £79,000 a year, a level he calls “more than fair”.
He said: “These figures are obscene.
“Test Valley has more directors than you can shake a stick at. There are plenty of bright people out there who could do the job for less.
“It’s not a big organisation, it’s just a poxy borough council, so there’s no justification for these salaries. We’re a small borough and you’ve got all of these fat cats, it’s barking.”
All of TVBC’s 450-odd workers have received a 2.5 per cent pay increase in 2014/15.
Cllr Hooke added: “That rise doesn’t amount to much if you’re on say £15,000, it’s not much more than McDonald’s, but if you’re on £140,000 it’s thousands.”
The figures are contained in the council’s statement of accounts 2013/14. Its pay policy statement 2015/16 reveals that the mean average salary of the council’s workforce is £26,641.
A spokesman for TVBC said: “We do not comment on the salaries of individual members of staff.”
Exit packages
TVBC forked out £101,000 to five
members of staff who exited the
council in 2012/13. Two of the five
were made redundant and cost a
combined £90,000 to remove.
The figures were even higher the
year before, when £130,000 was
shelled out to eight employees.
There were no redundancies in
2013/14.
Members’ allowances
The council paid the following
amounts to councillors:
2011/12: £409,000 allowances and
£15,000 expenses (£424,000 total)
2012/13: £413,000 allowances and
£15,000 expenses (£428,000 total)
2013/14: £417,000 allowances and
£12,000 expenses (£429,000 total)
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