MY SPIES in Derby Street claim that some £300,000 has been spent on consultants by the council over the last few years.
I wonder if the powers-that-be consider that a wise use of public cash given the chaotic way in which the latest exercise ended (see story in this week's Advertiser).
The salary review for WLDC's top bananas cost the taxpayer a reported £16,000. They should have come to me instead, I found a bunch a stats after just 30 seconds by typing 'chief officers pay' into Google and I'd only have charged them £8,000. I think I missed my calling in life...
Of course, if it was left to the council, none of us would have known about any of this as every report on the subject has been 'on the pink' - council jargon for 'confidential'.
The final decision was made at a specially-convened Extraordinary Council Meeting and before that there's been a handful of Senior Officers Renumeration Committee Meetings - all of them held away from the gaze of public and press scrutiny.
But in this week's Advertiser, we've revealed the real story. Afterall, why shouldn't you know how your hard-earned lolly is being spent - all £800,000 of it?
The reason it should have been place in the public domain in the first place is clear - we're talking about job posts here and responsibilities, not individuals.
I assume street scene chief Graham Concannon didn't get a £10k hike just because he's a nice bloke, but because of heavy responsibility heaped onto his department since the introduction of the fortnighly bin collections.
At the other end of the scale, housing boss Bob Livermore (who is also a nice bloke, so I'm told) got a £720 rise. This is probably because the council's housing stock is depleting and therefore the responsibilities are no greater now than they were when his own pay level was last looked at.
There's no reason why the public couldn't be told that.
I don't think any reasonable person would begrudge any employee from any organisation a pay rise in recognition of either increased responsibilities or as a reward for success.
But the way they've shut the public out of this gives the impression they have something to hide.
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