The 15th annual Town Hall Rich List has been published today, revealing the number of council officials paid more than £100,000 per year.

At Staffordshire County Council there are seventeen top executives each earning more than £100,000 per year. Combined, they receive to a total of £2,384,273.

The county council disputes the methodology used to calculate the figures, however, and says that only ten of its employees have a salary over £100,000.

The data supplied by The Taxpayers Alliance includes things like pension contributions, expenses and bonuses on top of salaries to work out the overall remuneration package.

Cllr Alan White, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said: "At the county council we are committed to keeping and attracting the very best staff and our levels of pay are in line with many other large local authorities.

"We expect this to be repaid many times over in the benefits they bring to the authority and to the people who live and work in Staffordshire."

Staffordshire County Council appears three times on the list of top ten council bonus payments this year:

- Chief executive John Henderson received £15,000

- Director of health Richard Harling received £11,262

- Director of economy, infrastructure and skills Darryl Eyers received £10,854

The county council also had three appearances in the highest ten expenses claims:

- Director of families and communities Helen Riley received £12,458

- County treasurer Rob Salmon received £10,755

- Director of economy, infrastructure and skills Darryl Eyers received £10,100

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers facing a cost of living crisis want to know they are getting value for money from their local authority leadership.

"With households having suffered through the pandemic and now struggling under colossal tax bills, the country needs councils to prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes.

"These figures will allow residents to judge town hall bosses for themselves and hold their local councils to account."

Taxpayers Alliance figures stated Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (SMDC) does not pay any officials more than £100,000 per year. The authority's own figures contradict this, however. They reveal the chief executive's salary to be in the range of £161,032 – £174,625 and the deputy chief executive's salary is in the range of £116,148 – £128,548. Other executive directors are entitled to a salary in the range of £96,880 – £107,890. In addition, the chief executive is entitled to a contribution of £6,824 per annum toward the cost of a lease car. Other executives can pick up a £5,700 contribution towards a lease car. SMDC also provides an additional £5,353.44 payment for executives who take on additional responsibilities such as monitoring officer and chief finance officer. While issuing its report, the Taxpayers' Alliance called on local authorities to cut down on wasteful spending by scrapping pet projects and unnecessary pay rises for town hall bosses. It said the number of local authority employees receiving over £100,000 in total remuneration has risen to the highest level since 2013-14. In Stoke-on-Trent, eleven city council officials are paid more than £100,000 per year. This includes city director Jon Rouse as well as the assistant director of governance, and four undisclosed officials. The remaining roles noted on the list are: - the director of children and family services

- the director of housing and customer services

- the director of housing, growth and development

- the director of social care, health integration and wellbeing

- the director of strategy and resources. The total bill for Stoke-on-Trent's eleven top council executives' pay deals equates to £1,529,995. Stoke-on-Trent City Council did not respond to a request to provide comment. Elsewhere in north Staffordshire, Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council paid three executives more than £100,000 per year. These include: - Chief executive (£127,360)

- Executive director for commercial development & economic growth (£109,424)

- Executive director operational services (£109,402) Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council did not respond to a request to provide comment.

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