Yesterday the Express and Star reported that Wolverhampton City Council will be installing a new assistant chief executive on a bumper £84,000 per-year salary.
Another addition, and yet only at the very end of January did the second paper in the TaxPayers’ Alliance Council Spending Uncovered series, ‘Middle Management Pay’, reveal that Wolverhampton City Council spent £2,650,000 on the salaries of middle managers. That’s more than five times what they spent ten years ago.
The newspaper also reports that this comes at a time when the council are announcing a 4.75% rise in council tax from April – the 11th year in a row that the the tax has risen above inflation. Shameless.
Tory finance spokesman Andrew Wynne is quoted:
“If we had our way, we would not have created this job – it is expensive and unnecessary, and duplicates a lot of the work the chief executive is asked to do.
It is an insult that this comes at the same time that council tax is due to go up 4.75 per cent, and I am astounded that the salary on offer is actually so high.
Strengthening the council at its centre is a step backward anyway. We have gone a very long time without an assistant chief executive and I don’t see why we need one now”.
And it seems that Cllr Wynne isn’t the only person questioning the efficacy of this particular post. Wolverhampton City Council could do a lot worse than note the reaction of their residents to stories like these and alter their attitudes appropriately.
The three comments in reaction to this article online say it all really:
3 Comments
1. Rob H said: Feb 25th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
The thieving bunch of . . .Wolverhampton council doesnt need another chief executive and in fact doesnt need one full stop.
Cut the waste and cut our council tax.
2. richard wilson said: Feb 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
i dont believe it
3. ZeElk said: Feb 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
And now you know what WCC’s cuts in front line services to citizens, cuts to existing staff members salaries, increases in council tax and other stealth taxes have all been for… to create another level of management.