FOUR members of staff at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have been featured in the latest ‘Town Hall Rich List.'

The annual rundown compiled by the pressure group the Taxpayer’s Alliance records the council employees across the country to have earned more than £100,000 in 2017/18.

At Basingstoke and Deane, four employees were named in the list, down from the five last time around.

However, mystery surrounds one employee recorded as having a salary of £107,500, but is listed as ‘undisclosed.'

The sum does not tally with any of the salary figures presented for the most senior members of staff in the publicly-available borough council’s 2017/18 statement of accounts and the authority added it can find no record of a person earning that salary.

The highest paid of the other three listed was chief executive Melbourne Barratt, recorded as having a salary of £143,420, plus £21,804 pension contribution. Then came executive director of finance and resources Kevin Jacquest was recorded with a salary of £103,821, plus £13,996 pension contribution, while Rebecca Emmett, executive director of borough services, was noted as having a salary of £101,246 and a pension payment of £12,984.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council spokesperson Sara Shepherd said: “To support transparency about how much people running public services are paid, we publish information about senior employee salaries on our website.

"These are set at an appropriate market level to attract the people with the right skills and experience.

"The council delivers high quality services to our residents and leads a range of aspirational and complex projects to grow and develop the borough to benefit our communities.”

Meanwhile, 18 Hampshire County Council employees were paid more than £100,000 in 2017/18.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The average council tax bill has gone up by more than £900 over the last twenty years and spending has gone through the roof. Disappointingly, many local authorities are now responding to financial reality through further tax rises and reducing services rather than scaling back top pay.

"Despite many in the public sector facing a much-needed pay freeze to help bring the public finances under control, many town hall bosses are continuing to pocket huge remuneration packages, with staggering pay-outs for those leaving their jobs.

"There are talented people in the public sector who are trying to deliver more for less, but the sheer scale of these packages raise serious questions about efficiency and priorities."