THE amount of money paid to senior management staff at the borough council has barely changed, even though the overall salary bill has been reduced by £1.3 million over the past three years.
In 2010/2011 there were nine senior officers working for Brentwood Borough Council, paid a total of £707,903.
In 2011/2012 the number of officers increased to 12 and the total paid out increased to £913,070.
Leader of Brentwood Borough Council, Louise McKinlay, says the projected pay for senior management for 2012 and 2013 is £703,000.
The total figure of £913,070 paid out between 2011/2012 equates to about 10 per cent of the £9.1 million annual council budget.
The increase alone of £205,000 equates to the council tax paid by 140 band D homes.
In addition, the council has revealed that the number of non-executive interims paid more than £50,000 a year between 2011 and 2012, was £401,817.
That figure has since increased slightly to £417,000.
Since 2009, the number of rank and file staff have been reduced by more than 10 per cent since the council started its organisational review.
A total of 63 positions have also been made redundant since 2009, including the town centre manager, the dog warden and a planning officer.
Overall staffing costs have been reduced by £1.3 million between the period 2009/10 and 2012/13, the council has said.
There have been redundancy pay outs totalling £730,000 in that period.
William Lloyd (Warley), one of four councillors who resigned the Tory whip last month, said: "This revelation uncovers a situation that does not provide the taxpayer with the value from their public services that they expect in these tougher times."
Fellow newly independent councillor, Russell Quirk (Hutton North), said: "It's horrendous that the council has reduced staff costs by so much but senior management have gone up."
Mrs McKinlay told the Gazette: "Nowhere is as transparent as Brentwood Borough Council is about pay.
"The details of all our senior staff and their pay are published online – and not just for the previous financial year (as is the legal obligation) but we also publish the current rates and from a lower level of pay than is our obligation."
