Walsall Council bosses to get £750,000 in pay

The authority has provisionally agreed on its salaries for next year, which will include Chief Executive Paul Sheehan earning £196,214.

Other salaries include £118,358 for an executive director and £90,550 for an assistant director. Other assistant directors will earn £87,527, £84,510, £81,491 and £78,476. The average salary at Walsall Council is £22,434.

The salaries will see a one per cent increase, as agreed by the council earlier this year. In total the six directors and one chief executive will pocket £737,126 for the financial year.

It comes at a time when the authority needs to save £86 million in four years and is set to cut hundreds of staff and reduce local services.

The salaries have been described as 'exorbitant' by the TaxPayers' Alliance.

John O'Connell, the alliance's chief executive, said: "Taxpayers will rightly want answers as to how these exorbitant salaries can be justified when the public finances are under such strain. This means that savings need to be found across the board so there must be scrutiny on all spending including top brass pay and perks. "

These salary figures do not include the £200,000 to be paid to the council's new controversial interim director Julie Alderson. Ms Alderson is scheduled to work at the council until next November, having started last month.

They also do not include the £75,000 to be paid to Lucy Trueman, the second controversial interim hired by the council. Having started work in October, her six-month contract will expire in April.

The salaries were discussed and agreed at the Personnel Committee meeting on Thursday. The pay policy statement will now go forward to be approved by full council in January 2017.

Councillor Mike Bird, the former leader of Walsall Council, has defended the chief executive's salary.

He said: "His salary is in line with other local authorities in the West Midlands, depending on their size and the budget they are managing."

However in the context of hundreds of council workers facing the axe, Councillor Bird, the leader of the Conservative group, did suggest it might be time to look at officers and directors sharing job roles."

Leader of Walsall Council, Sean Coughlan said: "The council's Pay Policy has remained largely unchanged for several years. In March 2011 the most senior staff volunteered to give up a performance pay system, resulting in lower pay than they would otherwise have received.

"Nationally set pay awards have been restricted for several years and this is particularly so for chief officers. The council has a financial turnover of £628 million per annum. It is responsible for delivering 1,300 statutory services."

According to the council's website, it currently has a total of 7,356 paid staff operating from more than 100 locations.