June 21: Another day, another council salary row...
Comments |
ANOTHER week,
another "fat cat" public sector pay row and not for the first time,
KCC is caught in the eye of the political storm.
This time, it’s about
the £365,000 collected by its former director
of regeneration and environment Adam Wilkinson,
who unexepectedly quit the role after barely a year in the
post.
His six-figure reward and the reasons
for it have not, in my view, been fully or adequately explained by
County Hall.
KCC defends £365kpay-off>>>
If Mr Wilkinson left his job
voluntarily and by mutual agreement, why was he simply not paid his
period of notice, as would be the case for most of us?
I am sure I cannot be the only one
mystified by Kent County Council’s account of why it was necessary
to virtually double his annual salary to mark his departure.
The authority has cited unspecified
"employment legislation" for forcing its hand but rather
conveniently has, at the same time, been able to say it can’t go
much further than these oblique references because of contract
confidentiality.
Cllr Roger Gough is to be commended
for at least outlining the authority's distaste for such payouts -
the first public declaration of its kind I've heard from County
Hall.
But there may be one or two people who
think that if this is the best that KCC can do when negotiating
sensitive departures of senior officers, they are not very good at
it.
However, it seems the payout did cause
some concern when it was brought to KCC’s personnel committee for
what I guess was rubber-stamping back in July 2009.
Councillors appeared so concerned
about it, that while they agreed to the terms of the exit package,
they referred the matter to the Audit Commission
"for appropriate comments."
I wonder if they made any? And I
wonder, if underlying all this, is another story that is buried but
KCC would rather not come out?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We'll find out tomorrow a little more
about exactly how the axe will fall on council services when George
Osborne makes his emergency budget statement.
A council tax freeze looks to be on
the cards but I doubt very much that will sugar the bitter pill
town halls are preparing to have to swallow.
And it seems perverse in one sense
that Mr Osborne is taking away with one hand then softening the
blow with the promise of a hadnout to enable bills to be kept down
- and kept down for just a year.
Monday, June 21 2010
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.