Daniel Ionescu

Fifteen council officers in Lincolnshire get paid more than £100,000 per year, though the number of people paid such salaries is decreasing in the county.

Eight members of staff at Lincolnshire County Council are paid more than £100,000 per year, with Chief Executive Tony McArdle taking home £173,226 — the highest public service salary in the county.

In second place for chief executives is City of Lincoln Council’s Andrew Taylor, whose yearly salary is £111,417, although he is actually sixth on the list, behind four other executive directors at Lincolnshire County Council.

The full 2014 rich list of Lincolnshire public servants:

1. Tony McArdle – Lincolnshire County Council Chief Executive – £173,226
2. Tony Hill – Lincolnshire County Council Executive Director for Public Health – £160,834
3. Debbie Barnes – Lincolnshire County Council Executive Director for Children’s Services – £125,983
4. Pete Moore – Lincolnshire County Council Executive Director for Finance & Public Protection – £125,983
5. Richard Wills – Lincolnshire County Council Executive Director for Economy and Environment – £125,983
6. Andrew Taylor – City of Lincoln Council Chief Executive – £111,471
7. Dave Ramscar – Lincolnshire County Council Assistant Director for Fire and Emergency – £111,100
8. Beverly Agass – South Kesteven District Council Chief Executive – £110,000
9. Richard Harbord – Boston Borough Council Chief Executive – £106,100
10. Manjeet Gill – West Lindsey District Council Chief Executive – £105,000
11. Glen Garrod – Lincolnshire County Council Director of Adult Social Care – £105,000
12. Judith Hetherington Smith – Lincolnshire County Council Chief Information & Commissioning Officer – £105,000
13. Ian Fytche – North Kesteven District Council Chief Executive – £104,018
14. Stuart Davy – East Lindsey District Council Chief Executive – £102,960
15. Anna Graves – South Holland & Breckland Councils Chief Executive – £115,00 (joint post, £57,500 from each of the two councils)

This year’s Taxpayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List covers the 2011-12 and 2012-13 financial years, the most recent full years for which data is available. The Lincolnite also used data supplied directly by Lincolnshire County Council and City of Lincoln Council to compile the list published here.

Compared to the 2013 town hall rich list, there are some differences in the figures quoted by the TaxPayers’ Alliance last year, as some salaries included pension contributions of electoral duties carried out by the chief executives. The figures quoted in this year’s list on The Lincolnite include the baseline salary only.

‘Suitable’ wages, challenging times

Across the UK, there were at least 2,181 council employees who received total salaries over £100,000 in 2011-12, a fall of 5% on the previous year’s 2,295.

Debbie Barnes, Executive Director for HR at Lincolnshire County Council, and the third highest paid council officer in the county, said: “We’ve significantly reduced the number of senior managers over the past few years, and are currently making further cutbacks.

“We use extensive research to make sure that our salaries are competitive with similar councils. Senior salaries in the public sector compare to those in the private sector, and we are confident that the taxpayer gets good value for money.

“We’re one of Lincolnshire’s largest employers, and our senior managers are responsible for multi-million pound budgets and the thousands of staff who deliver a broad range of vital services to the fourth largest county in the country. To attract and retain the best and brightest people, we have to pay a suitable wage.”

Councillor Ric Metcalfe, Leader of the City of Lincoln Council, said: “Rates of pay for senior local government officers reflect the high levels of responsibility in running large public organisations. We think our chief executive is appropriately remunerated.”

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: “It is good news that the number of senior council staff making more than £100,000 a year is falling, although that may only be because many authorities have finished paying eye-watering redundancy bills.

“Sadly, too many local authorities are still increasing the number of highly paid staff on their payroll. It’s particularly galling in places where councils are pleading poverty and demanding more and more in Council Tax.

“Taxpayers expect their council to be filling potholes, not pay packets. Many rank-and-file staff in local councils will be equally appalled – at a time when councils across the country are freezing pay, it appears the money they’re saving is being used to line the pockets of town hall tycoons.”

South Holland Councillor Gary Porter, said: “In South Holland we have responded to this new reality by adopting an approach of sharing services with other councils in order to create savings and protect the front line services that you most value.

“A good example of this is sharing our Chief Executive and senior management team. Traditionally most councils (South Holland included) have always had their own Chief Executive but we now share one with Breckland Council, across the border in Norfolk.

“This is delivering annual savings of over £1 million across both councils, in terms of the Chief Executive’s post, we are now paying less than half the Lincolnshire average.

“We have also set up a company with East Lindsey Council to deliver our back office services, saving over £1 million a year.”

Note: This article has been updated on August 7 with new salary data for South Holland and comment from the council.

Four burglaries have been reported in Lincoln over the weekend of Friday, August 1, to Sunday, August 3.

Two of the incidents were due to insecurity, while in two cases, entry was forced into the premises.

Lincolnshire Police are running an ongoing Help Yourself campaign to highlight the issue of insecurity burglaries, where access is gained through unlocked doors and windows.

In the first week of the campaign, six burglaries were reported in the first few days, with no reports from Tuesday to Friday, August 1.

The latest four incidents over the weekend happened on Goldsmith Walk, two on John Street via forced entry, and one on Bank Street.

Electronics, clothing and house keys were taken in the incidents, while in two cases it is unclear if anything was stolen.

The incidents are:

• Goldsmith Walk – Insecurity
  Believed to have happened sometime between July 30 and August 1. Access to the property gained via an insecure ground floor window. Nothing is believed to have been taken. Incident 469 of 01/08/2014
• John Street – Forced entry
  Sometime between 3.30om and 5.30pm on August 2 offenders are believed to have forced entry to the property via a rear door. Not clear what was stolen in the incident. Incident 392 of 02/08/2014
• John Street – Forced entry
  Also reported to Lincolnshire Police on the same day as the above incident. Forced entry via front door and clothing and electrical equipment taken, including a television and Kindle. Incident 560 of 02/08/2014
• Bank Street – Insecurity
  Between 5pm and 7pm on Sunday 3rd of August offenders are believed to have accessed the property via an insecure rear door. The occupant was at home during this time. A set of house keys are believed to have been taken. Incident 491 of 03/08/2014

Anyone with information on the burglaries above, or who saw anything suspicious in the area around the time of the incidents, is asked to call Lincolnshire Police on 101 quoting the respective incident reference numbers.