THE Chief Executive of Derry’s council was paid £130,000 last year, a new report has revealed.
The figure was revealed following an analysis by the spending watchdog, The TaxPayers' Alliance, which looked at council wages across the UK.
The analysis, which covering 2016-17, showed that John Kelpie (pictured above), the Chief Executive of Derry City and Strabane District Council was paid £130,000 over the period, including £22,500 for pension.
Belfast City Council’s chief executive Suzanne Wylie was the top earner out of all the council’s in the north with a total remuneration of £159,000, including £26,500 in employer pension contributions.
Meanwhile, the former Derry GAA star Anthony Tohill, who left his post as a Strategic Director with the old Derry City Council in 2014 to take up the post of chief executive of the new Mid-Ulster super council earned £127,200 including £21,200 for pension.
The Chief Executive of Causeway, Coast and Glens council, David Jackson, was paid £123,000 including £20,500 for pension.
Commenting on the figures, The TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive, John O'Connell, said that packages being paid out to senior council officials ‘raised serious questions’.
“Despite many in the public sector facing a much-needed pay freeze to help bring the public finances under control, many town hall bosses are continuing to pocket huge remuneration packages,” he said.
“There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raises serious questions about efficiency and priorities."
However, the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), the organisation that represents local government in Northern Ireland, said the pay packets were ‘proportionately lower on all levels than is the case in England, Scotland and Wales’.
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