COUNTY council chiefs refused a pay deal last year as city counterparts were being handed bumper rises, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

The senior management team at County Hall spurned a pay rise because of the recession beginning to bite local authorities.

But a prominent city councillor yesterday defended the rises handed to senior managers at Oxford City Council stating: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

The news the city’s directors and chief executive were given pay hikes of up to 34.6 per cent in April 2009 sparked angry criticism from the public and unions.

In contrast, the county’s chief executive and directors have had no increase for three years and turned down a deal in April 2009.

Chief executive Joanna Simons said: “We all felt that given the recession, it wasn’t right for us to take a pay rise.”

Despite this, County Hall still has the highest-paid local authority bosses in Oxfordshire.

Ms Simons’s salary is £182,431 and the county’s three directors each receive £128,194.

Ms Simons also received a one-off payment of £6,700 in 2009 as returning officer in the local elections.

Meanwhile, Oxford City Council bosses were handed rises of up to 34.6 per cent in April 2009, including an 11.6 per cent hike for chief executive Peter Sloman – whose salary is £141,031.

The city council’s senior team did not get a pay rise in 2010.

However, in a letter to the Oxford Mail, city councillor John Tanner defended the deals.

He said: “The senior managers’ team at Oxford City Council are worth every penny. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

The executive member added managers had cut costs and improved services.

He said: “It is these same managers who will enable the city council to defend the people of Oxford from some of the worst effects of the damaging and unfair cuts about to be imposed by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition Government.

“Oxford deserves first-class managers for a first-class city.”

Across the county, pay deals have varied in the past two years and many increases have been linked to new shared posts between authorities.

The senior management team at Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council is now shared.

Salaries for the directors and the chief executive increased by 12.4 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in 2009, when the posts became joint positions.

No increases were awarded this year, and joint chief executive David Buckle is now paid £129,092.

Cherwell District Council’s senior management team were awarded a three per cent pay rise in 2009 but no rise in 2010, and its chief executive Mary Harpley earns £102,720.

At West Oxfordshire District Council, senior managers’ salaries increased by between 6.2 per cent and 9.8 per cent in 2009, which the council said was due to posts becoming shared with Cotswold District Council – saving more than £100,000 a year.

No pay increase is expected this year. Chief executive David Neudegg is paid £118,384.