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Salaries top £100k barrier
The woman responsible for running the borough on a day-to-day basis took home more than £150,000 of taxpayers' money as her salary last year according to new figures released this week.
The TaxPayers' Alliance (tpa) published a list of local authority employees who earned more than £100,000 in 2006/07 and Gillian Norton, chief executive of Richmond Council, was one of 88 across the country who pocketed over £150,000.
The figures, released this morning, Friday, showed 818 council employees broke the £100,000 barrier last year and five of them work for Richmond Council.
Ms Norton tops the list at £153,246 - a £7,000 or 4.8 per cent increase from 2005/06 - while Mark Maidment, director of finance and corporate services, Jeff Jerome, director of social services and housing, Anji Phillips, director of education and children's services, and Trevor Pugh, director of environment, all took home about £110,000.
For Mr Maidment and Ms Phillips that represented a cut in pay of about £7,000 from the previous year but Mr Jerome and Mr Pugh were handed pay rises of around £3,000.
The Alliance said residents had a right to know how many local authority workers were taking home six-figure sums and had to judge whether they were worth it.
But residents on the streets of Twickenham this week reached the conclusion they were not.
Lyn Halstead, 57, from Twickenham, said: "I think it's diabolical, the figures are released but nothing will be done. People struggle to pay their council tax in this borough, it's disgusting."
Bob Cain, 61, from Hampton Wick, said: "It sounds like an awful lot of money. I don't know what the going rate is amongst other jobs but it does seem a lot.
"Collectively that is over half a million a year."
Councillor Serge Lourie, leader of Richmond Council, defended the amount the top council employees were paid and said the Government and residents expect councils to manage local areas effectively and provide services that represented value for money.
He said the council was rated in the top five per cent in the country, in terms of value for money and overall performance, and added a well-run authority must be lead well.
"To secure and hold on to good people in a market as competitive as London you need to pay competitive rates," he said. "Despite this, Richmond Council pays at average levels in relation to other London authorities but given our circumstances we believe we have the balance about right.
"Our goal is to deliver excellent services that provide value for money.
"Be very clear the best way to undermine this is to employ sub-standard people in key positions.
"Neither the Government or residents of Richmond would accept this and we will not do it."
In neighbouring boroughs, six Kingston Council employees breached the £100,000 barrier, seven from Hammersmith and Fulham Council took home six-figure sums and 18 Wandsworth Council workers reached the mark.
But only four Hounslow Council employees took home more than £100,000 and no-one from Spelthorne Council did so in 2006/07.
11:08am Friday 28th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: adam, london on 1:21pm Tue 1 Apr 08
i think she should dio the right thing and hand back her ill-gotten gains.
i think she should dio the right thing and hand back her ill-gotten gains.
Posted by: Gertrude Grendal, London on 4:29pm Fri 4 Apr 08
In his wisdom, Serge Lourie speaking of maintaining good key workers, by paying them top dollar, proclaims "Be very clear the best way to undermine this is to employ sub-standard people in key positions". Does he therefore believe that care workers, nursing assistants who wipe the bottoms of the helpless, hospital cleaners employed at minimum wage by greedy contractors are all sub-standard people in key positions? Without pointing fingers, or making accusations, I know who is sub-standard in my opinion!
In his wisdom, Serge Lourie speaking of maintaining good key workers, by paying them top dollar, proclaims "Be very clear the best way to undermine this is to employ sub-standard people in key positions". Does he therefore believe that care workers, nursing assistants who wipe the bottoms of the helpless, hospital cleaners employed at minimum wage by greedy contractors are all sub-standard people in key positions? Without pointing fingers, or making accusations, I know who is sub-standard in my opinion!
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