The Important questions for the Barnet Council elections in May - Number 2

Today is question no 2 in our series dedicated to looking at the important questions which face voters in Barnet as we approach the Council elections on May 6th.

Question No 2.
Council executive pay. In 2003, the salary of the chief executive of Barnet Council was £113,000. It now stands at £200,000. Have you had a 76% percent payrise in this period. He's not the only one to be doing rather well. The deputy CEO gets £180,000. Barnets most sensible Tory, Don't Call Me Dave, highlighted this issue in an excellent blog before his retirement from trying to knock some sense into his Tory colleagues. The following table shows all of the Barnet Council fat cats.

As you can see there are 11 people now earning more than the CEO of Barnet when the Tories took over. The argument the Tories Council have used is that you need to pay these high salaries to ensure "the right calibre of people". This is an old list. Clive Medlam has left as he didn't follow council rules for investments and was blamed for the Icelandic fiasco. As you assess the potholes in the borough you may ask whether the executives are delivering on road maintenance. As you look at all of the legal fiascos, which have cost enough to save the warden service several times over (Icelandic Banks, Underhill, Warden cuts) you may ask whether this area is delivering. Barnet has a housing crisis.Over 6,000 families are on the list for Council houses. The Council has a strategy to build rabbit hutch flats to house  60,000 people from outside the Borough, addressing the Council House shortfall is not part of this strategy, we'll still have people on the waiting list. The infrastructure will not cope. Can you possibly say that the people devising the strategy are doing a good job. The Council plans to transform itself. The latest budget has a sum of £5 million allocated for "legal issues". Is this what you want your council tax spent on (especially  with Barnets record of losing legal battles).

Question No 2 in our daily series is this. Do you think the fat cat culture of Barnet Senior Executives should be addressed. Should the management structure be streamlined and should salaries reflect the difficult economic circumstances which face public finances.

Where do the parties stand on this issue?

Barnet Conservatives : They have a record which shows that they believe in a bloated corporate sector in Barnet, fat cat salaries and inefficiency.

Barnet Lib Dems : The Barnet Lib Dems promoted budget amendments which would have saved the sheltered housing warden scheme, paid for by streamlining the management structure and addressing these pay rates (the Tories rejected this)

Barnet Labour Party : Their position on this issue is unclear.

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REMEMBER  - WHETHER THIS EXTRAVANGANCE CONTINUES IS DOWN TO HOW YOU VOTE ON MAY 6TH

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Other parties and independent candidates are welcome to leave comments outlining their position on this issue. Comments will only be deleted if off subject, racist, sexist or abusive. This is a debate we must have