800 town hall staff earn more than £100,000 - and council tax is going up

A survey found the number of local government officers paid more than £100,000 has leapt by 27 per cent within the past year.

There are 132 council managers paid more than the £137,579 annual salary of a Cabinet minister. The biggest earner was Peter Gilroy, chief executive of Kent County Council, who takes home £229,999.

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The news came on the day the Government released final details of this year's inflation-busting council tax increases, up an average 4 per cent for band D homes.

From next month a typical band D bill will be £1,374, more than twice the amount of a decade ago.

Ministers hailed the increases as the lowest for 14 years but the Tories said they would cost an average household an extra £115 and "clobber" pensioners.

The survey on town hall salaries by the Taxpayers' Alliance said the increases had been paying for "a boom in high-salary executives".

The pressure group based its information on freedom of information requests put to 450 councils in December last year.

The figures cover not just basic salaries but bonuses, medical insurance, cars and other benefits.

They do not, however, take into account their gold-plated, index-linked pensions, which are largely financed through taxation. There were 818 officials on at least £100,000, up from 645 last year.

They had annual salary increases of 4.6 per cent, more than double the level the Government will allow the public sector this year.

Six were paid more than £200,000 a year, and 88 received more than £150,000. There were 14 who got more than the £188,849 pay of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers have a right to know how much town hall officials are being paid because only then can we judge whether they deserve their remuneration.

"Too often, council executives are rewarded handsomely even when they fail. Families and pensioners are struggling with the demands of yet another council tax rise, and councils owe it to them to cut back on executive pay hikes."

Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles condemned soaring council taxes.

He said: "These latest hikes will mean some of the most vulnerable groups in society like pensioners on fixed incomes are clobbered."

But Local Government Minister John Healey said: "Most councils have contained their costs and budgeted prudently."

Cash-strapped police forces are poised for a battle with the Government over threats to crime-fighting funds.

Local Government Minister John Healey yesterday threatened to cap the budgets of seven police authorities that have imposed 'excessive' budget increases of more than 5 per cent. The increases, for 2008-2009, will bump up council tax bills.

He was warned, however, that hundreds of police officers would be taken off the streets if spending was hit. Police chiefs say they need the

extra millions to pay for neighbourhood bobbies, counter-terrorism and tackling crime gangs.

Lincolnshire police authority has asked for an increase of nearly 80 per cent in its share of the council tax. This would add £2 a week to the average bill.

Cheshire (which wants 17 per cent more of the council tax bill), Leicestershire (15.3 per cent), Warwickshire (12.8 per cent), Surrey (9.7 per cent), Bedfordshire (9.6 per cent) and Norfolk (8.3 per cent) were also told to cut their demands.