Many council tax payers will share my anger and indignation over the exorbitant pay increases to senior officers at the city council at a time when we are all to suffer cuts in services.
I sympathise with other council employees who have been dealt a double whammy with frozen pay, if indeed they still have a job after restructuring.
Bob Price, leader of the council, tries to defend the rises by saying these senior officers do a 24-hour job. Rubbish.
I understand that two adjoining district councils, South Oxfordshire and the Vale now share their senior posts to save services – and council tax payers’ money.
If they can operate efficiently by sharing senior management then Oxford senior staff, who must have a similar workload, would seem to be not overburdened.
Indeed I would suggest this as an option: let them be subject to the same efficiency savings (i.e redundancy) as their staff and let those remaining share roles with another local authority, say Cherwell or West Oxfordshire.
Even the bankers had to defend their case against shareholders at bank AGMs.
There could be a public meeting where Messrs Sloman, Barrett and Sadler, together with the finance officers and the leader of the council can defend the rises in front of council tax payers.
If they really are doing a superhuman job then they should be glad of the opportunity to speak. Somehow I do not think this will happen.
Peter Wilkinson Thames View Road Rose Hill Oxford
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