Town Hall Rich List 2010

---

Taxpayers' Alliance report features eight Hounslow Council employees

Eight Council employees are paid in excess of £100,000 a year according to a new report by the Taxpayers' Alliance.

The Town Hall Rich List, which lists local government staff across the country whose total remuneration exceeds £100,000, shows that in the Borough of Hounslow retiring Chief Executive Mark Gilks earned £164,828 during the 12 months 2009-10.

Terry Welsh Director of Legal Services earned £141,851 representing a 16.7% rise on the previous year and Judith Pettersen Director of Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning was awarded a 10% pay rise which took her salary to £126,771.

Suresh Kamath Director of Street Management took home £128,871 and Stephen Fitzgerald Director of Finance £121,259 and Michael Jordan Director of Planning earned £112,270.

Hounslow Council did not provide the TPA with a breakdown of employees’ total remuneration.

The TaxPayers' Alliance say town hall executive pay appears to be insulated from the wider economic reality.

"Town Hall bosses have had a very good recession at taxpayers' expense. More of them than ever are earning massive amounts and they even enjoyed a healthy pay rise while everyone else was suffering pay freezes, cuts or redundancies,” said TPA Policy Analyst John O’Connell.

“It is unfair that these public servants have been having a whale of a time while the ordinary taxpayers who fund their generous deals have been struggling to survive the recession. Now that most councils are in financial trouble, these senior managers must take serious pay cuts to help make ends meet.”

The TPA say the average pay rise for the council staff on the Town Hall Rich List is five percent. This is compared with a 2.7 percent pay rise for nurses and a 2.3 percent pay rise for teachers.

Since the TaxPayers' Alliance published its first Rich List in 2007, the number of senior staff receiving such large sums has soared. This latest report shows that trend continuing despite the recession.

The full report can be found online at http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/thrl2010.pdf

April 7, 2010