THE salary details for chief executives at the helm of the county’s local authorities has been laid bare in a new report.

The Town Hall Rich List, compiled by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), shows the county council’s Joanna Simons netted £185,000 in ‘total remuneration’ in 2008/09, an increase of 5.7 per cent (£10,000) on the previous year.

Last night, Mark Fysh, the county council’s Unison union branch secretary, said: “None of our members in local government is getting any kind of pay increase this year.

“Imagine how these figures make a home-support worker feel on £16,000 a year.

“They are the ones who will be asked to take cuts in pay and overtime, but you can bet your bottom dollar no chief execs will.

“Having said that, obviously the pay is less than in the private sector and we do have to attract the right people to do the job.”

A county council spokesman said: “Local government manages huge budgets and chief executives and directors carry a great responsibility in delivering vital public services.

“It follows that in order to be successful in what they do, local authorities have to offer competitive rates of pay to attract the best people to the top jobs.

“It’s also worth noting that salaries of local authority chief executives are generally lower than those of university vice-chancellors, many senior civil servants, BBC executive directors and chief executives of many other public bodies.”

John O’Connell, policy analyst at the TPA, said: “Town hall bosses have had a very good recession at taxpayers’ expense. More of them than ever are earning massive amounts, and they even enjoyed a healthy pay rise while everyone else was suffering pay freezes, cuts or redundancies.

“Now that most councils are in financial trouble, these senior managers must take serious pay cuts to help make ends meet.”

At South Oxfordshire District Council, David Buckle, who is now also chief executive of the Vale of White Horse, earned £110,810 in 2007/08 and £115,349 last year including expenses, an increase of 4.1 per cent.

A spokesman for South Oxfordshire District Council said: “David is perfectly happy for his salary to be published, and it has been published before.

“What we would like to point out is that he is joint executive for two councils so it’s important to bear that in mind.”

Outgoing Vale chief executive Terry Stock received £107,417 in 2007/08 and £172,660 the following year, including a redundancy payment of £94,266.

At Cherwell, chief executive Mary Harpley took a 15.9 per-cent pay cut year-on-year from £128,064 to £107,643.

David Neudegg, the chief executive of West Oxfordshire and Cotswold district councils, was paid a total of £107,048 last year.

Peter Sloman, chief executive of Oxford City Council, was paid a total of £100,000 in 2008/09 and the same the year before.

Elsewhere in the region, Buckinghamshire’s chief executive was paid £200,185 last year and Northamptonshire’s got £179,213.

In the private sector, Terry Sweeney, chief executive of computing firm RM – which is the county’s 13th largest employee with 2,361 staff – earned £442,000 last year, including bonuses. The previous year he was paid £160,000.

In the NHS, Andrea Young, chief executive of Oxfordshire PCT, was paid £165,000 to £170,000 last year, up a pay band from between £160,000 to £165,000 the previous year.

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk