Former city bins chief banked £414,000 in her final year Payment to ex-council official condemned as she tops salary table for region’s public officials
ASENIOR Birmingham council official has been named as the most expensive in the Midlands – having been paid £414,000 in a single year.
Former city director of place Sharon Lea – responsible for bins, street cleaning, housing and neighbourhoods – was paid the sum during 2015-16 and topped the Midland “Town Hall Rich List” published by the Taxpayers Alliance this week.
Ms Lea earned £50,000 between April and July 2015 before her retirement. The remainder of her income was then in the form of a £363,000 pension contribution handed over on retirement – details of which appeared in the council’s final accounts.
She retired £150,000-a-year job with the council.
According to the list, Birmingham, which is Europe’s largest local authority with a total budget of about £3 billion, paid 23 officials more than £100,000 a year.
Former chief executive from after 40 her years Mark Rogers, who left the council two months ago, was paid a total of £209,643 in 2015/16 – made up of his £182,500 salary, £23,543 pension contributions and £3,600 expense allowances.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Disappointingly, many local authorities are now responding to financial reality through further tax rises and reducing services rather than scaling back top pay. There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raise serious questions about efficiency and priorities.”
But Councillor Claire Kober, of the Local Government Association, defended the pay of town hall top officials, given the range of services they are responsible for.
She said: “Councils are large, complex organisations with sizeable budgets and responsibility for delivering more than 700 services, including caring for the elderly and vulnerable and protecting children. It is important that the right people with the right skills and experience are retained to deliver this work.
“Local government is committed to providing value for money to taxpayers and, nationally, incoming chief executives are being paid lower salaries than their predecessors and average chief executive salaries continue to decline year-on-year.”
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “These figures from the TaxPayers’ Alliance are misleading and simply provide raw data without any context.
“The director who retired from the council on 31 July, 2015, did so as part of a restructure to reduce overall senior management costs in the long term. Therefore, the figure of £414,100 was not a salary, but comprised the £50,310 for the four months worked at the council in 2015/16 and £363,790 pension contributions associated with the retirement after 40 years’ service.
“This information is all publicly available in the council’s accounts for 2015/16, published on the council’s website last year.”
The sheer scale of these packages raise serious questions about efficiency and priorities TaxPayers’ Alliance