Why not merge Hull and East Riding councils to save cash?
NEW HIGH-PAID ROLES SPLIT OPINIONS
There’s probably never a good time for councils to create new senior officer jobs. So it was this week when Hull councillors, or at least Labour ones, voted in favour of adding three new faces to their authority’s senior management team.
Each post will command an annual salary of £93,666, which is nice work if you can get it.
The accompanying howls of protest from opposition parties were predictably loud.
They were quick to point out the public’s priorities for public spending are more likely to be on filling potholes and keeping the streets clean than having three new bosses at the Guildhall.
Labour leader Steve Brady insisted it was all about saving money in the long run.
He also said there were nine fewer directors and senior managers at the council than there were a decade ago.
That might be so, but in these times of reduced funding for councils and services being squeezed until the pips squeak, it still doesn’t look good.
A quick glance at the accompanying report on the issue reveals that with the new additions, Hull will have 20 senior officers earning at least £93,666-a-year.
At the top of the pile is chief executive Matt Jukes, on an annual salary of
£156,075.
Overall, the Well-trousered Twenty will cost the council just over £3.6m in wages this year.
The full council debate on the issue was, of course, limited to Hull.
What wasn’t mentioned was that a similar council senior management team costing a similar eye-watering sum in salaries is currently operating just 11 miles up the road in Beverley.
To someone in business, the idea of merging Hull City Council and East Riding Council would be a no-brainer.
Just think of how much could be saved by having just one senior management team, allowing the spare cash to be diverted into filling potholes and keeping the streets clean.
However, this being local politics, it’s about as likely to happen as cheese being found on Mars.