North and South Lanarkshire Councils' top earners have been revealed in the latest TaxPayers' Alliance annual Town Hall Rich List.
Twenty Lanarkshire-based employees were included on the list totalling over £2.6 million.
However, both councils hit back at the pressure group and called on the Alliance to publish its on financial figures.
According to the stats, 11 North Lanarkshire Council employees were awarded more than £100,000 during the financial year of 2019/20. This includes both salary and pension contributions.
The combined cost of the 11 workers packages was more than £1.4 million.
Top of the list was chief executive Des Murray, who took home a £165,532 salary and a £32,466 pension contribution.
Enterprise and communities executive director Robert Steenson pocketed a £132,663 salary plus a £25,434 pension.
Derek Brown, North Lanarkshire Council’s education and families executive director, received a salary of over £125,000, plus £24,488 in pension contributions.
Two undisclosed staff members were also listed as having salaries of £132,500 and £117,500 respectively.
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “The council believes in transparency, which is why the complete details of pay for senior staff are published every year on the council’s website, so that genuine taxpayers can easily access it.
“The same cannot be said for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, a private company and political pressure group which routinely refuses to disclose its financial backers and yet inexplicably continues to be portrayed as a campaign representing ordinary people.”
In neighbouring South Lanarkshire nine members of staff were named in the Rich List, totalling £1.26 million.
The local authority’s executive director of finance and corporate resources Paul Manning received a £153,576 salary as well as pension contributions totalling £27,695.
South Lanarkshire's enterprise resources executive director Michael McGlynn took home a salary of £136,000, plus a yearly pension pot of £26,254.
South Lanarkshire health and social care director Val de Souza also received a £136,000 salary plus £26,000 of pension contributions.
Two unnamed South Lanarkshire Council employees received salaries of £102,500, while former chief executive Lindsay Freeland received a salary and pension totalling £106,163.
“The salaries paid to senior council staff are in line with their terms and conditions of employment and these figures are published every year in our annual accounts,” said a South Lanarkshire Council spokesperson.
“The Accounts Commission recently published a Best Value Assurance Report that noted that the council benefits from effective leadership and has sound financial management.
”It is worth noting that the Taxpayers’ Alliance is a private company that refuses to disclose its own financial arrangements.”
At the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the number of council staff across the UK receiving more than £100,000 had increased by 135 to at least ,802 people, with 693 receiving more than £150,000, 26 more than the previous year.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These figures shine a light on the town hall bosses who’ve got it right, and will enable residents to hold those who aren’t delivering value for money to account.”
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