Bournemouth council's chief executive Pam Donnellan has been described as "good value for money" after it was revealed that she earns £116,358 a year.

Following the publication of a town hall rich list,' it has also emerged that four of the borough's executive directors are paid £98,919.

Figures show that Mrs Donnellan's salary lags well behind the highest earning chief executive, Tom Scholes, who received £233,029 in 2005-06, including a £113,015 redundancy payment, from Renfrewshire Council.

A close second was Kent chief executive Peter Gilroy who banked £229,999 - followed by Wandsworth's chief executive and director of administration Gerald Jones on £227,424.

The town halls senior staff earnings list has been published by the Taxpayers' Alliance which has claimed that a burgeoning army of fat cat' officials are being funded through council tax hikes.

The list, based on responses from 230 councils, gives details of the 578 employees who were paid more than £100,000 in 2005-06.

Taxpayers' Alliance chairman Andrew Allum described the figures as an "insult."

He said: "Thousands of pensioners are having to choose between heating their homes and paying their council tax bills. It's a complete insult to their dignity that so much of their money goes down the drain on top salaries for council staff.

"Town halls need to get a grip and cut back on gold-plated salaries or they will find that council tax quickly becomes the new poll tax."

But Bournemouth council leader Cllr Richard Smith stressed that the council was the largest employer in the town with more than 6,000 employees.

"Any chief executive, as head of an organisation of this size overseeing such a wide range of services and with so many statutory responsibilities, would expect to be earning more than £100,000 a year.

"Unlike many other authorities in this report we only have one member of staff over the £100,000 threshold.

"We have reduced the number of senior directors over the last few years so we have a very slim management structure, compared to other organisations, and no deputy chief executive.

"With a turnover of around £400 million the salaries are perfectly normal and represent good value for money when compared with other public and private sector organisations of this size."

  • Borough of Poole's chief executive John McBride earns £119,000 a year.

According to the borough council 31 employees earn £50,000 per annum, as well as 33 school heads and deputy heads.

The council's head of personnel and training, Colin Hague, said: "The council believes its salaries for senior managers are fair given the level of responsibility and the market rate for these highly skilled professionals, which is extremely competitive."