£220,000 for a Chief Executive - the wrong amount at the wrong time for the wrong reasons

4.01.02pm GMT Fri 14th Mar 2008

Andrew Cann: 'Tories plain wrong on £220k Chief Executive'

Ipswich Liberal Democrats have nothing against Andrea Hill who the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council aim to make their new Chief Executive following the departure of Mike More.

We have two main causes for concern with the appointment however.

£220,000 is wrong

£220,000 is simply too much.

This is over £70,000 more than the current, well respected, Chief Executive is earning and need not have been paid to attract the best candidates to Suffolk.

£220,000 is simply unnecessary.

The appointee is coming from a Council (Bedfordshire) that is being wound up so her bargaining position wasn't exactly strong given her job was being made redundant!

£220,000 is a slap in the face for the people of Suffolk.

An enormous salary like this is hard to take for tax payers and service users alike. At a time when we are all being asked to pay above-inflation tax increases by the County Council whilst they are services this arrogant salary hike beggars belief.

£220,000 is insulting to the County's staff.

A hefty 35% pay rise like this is also a slap in the face for thousands of hard-working and loyal staff who have been asked to take a 2% pay-rise this year in order to show 'restraint' in the face of budgetary pressures. Restraint starts at the top.

Appointing a permanent Chief Executive now is also wrong.

Suffolk local authorities currently have 7 Chief Executives. There used to be 8 but Waveney wisely chose not to appoint another Chief Executive solely to look after their local authority given that all of the local authorities in Suffolk could be abolished shortly and there will not be more than 3 Chief Executives positions available.

The County Tories decision to appoint a permanent Chief Executive when Suffolk County Council will likely-as-not cease to exist in 18 months time is a scandalous waste of money on another future whopping redundancy payment.

There is enough talent within the County Council to find an interim appointee and one that would be affordable with a reasonable recognition in pay for their duties. That is what the Lib Dems would do and judging by what we are hearing that is what most people would do.

This £220,000 appointment isn't making sense to many people across Suffolk. Thats not surprising to most of us with at least one foot in the real world.

The Tories (the party who claimed they'd cut bureaucracy at the County Council) are badly out of touch on this one. If they claim to represent the people of this County they need to show they're listening and now.

The silence is deafening.