By political editor Paul Francis

Kent County Council has more staff earning over £100,000 than almost any other local authority in the country, according to a survey of town hall pay.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance says its analysis shows KCC had 31 employees on salaries of more than £100,000 in 2009-2010 and that the number could be even higher.

Only two other councils had more on six-figure salaries – Cornwall and Newcastle upon Tyne, both of which had 32.

The figures are reported in the group’s annual town hall ‘rich list’ survey.

KCC leader Paul Carter has defended the figures, saying that as one of the largest authorities in the country, he is not surprised and that the council was acting responsibly in tackling senior pay levels.

"For a business the size and scale of Kent, it does not greatly surprise me that there are that number of employees earning more than £100,000. In these difficult times, we have taken 20 per cent of savings out of senior management costs and we have had all these salaries re-evaluated.|"

But he accepted there could be more staff whose pensions, when added to their salaries, could be earning above the figure.

"There may be a few more but we are running a very lean organisation."

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Councils should be scouring every inch of their expenditure to identify savings, so taxpayers will be staggered that so many council employees are still getting such a generous deal."

The group says some councils may be under-reporting those on six-figure salaries because new rules on the disclosure of pay and perks require only details of those who are described as senior staff.

According to the survey, KCC’s former chief executive Peter Gilroy received pay and perks totalling £299,582 in 2009-10.

This was made up of a salary of £214,582, a bonus of £10,015; expenses of £18,350 and a pension of £56,223.

The issue of the pay and perks of senior staff at County Hall has proved controversial over recent years.

It emerged recently that a windfall payment of £200,000 paid to former chief executive Peter Gilroy negotiated as an agreement to extend his contract had actually cost the taxpayer £408,000.

And there was further controversy when the authority’s former director of highways and regeneration Adam Wilkinson had received £365,000 despite leaving his job after a year.

According to the survey, 2,295 council staff earned more than £100,000 – a rise of 18 per cent on the previous year.