SALFORD FAT CATS PART FOUR
To see Salford Fat Cats Part One – click here
To see Salford Fat Cats Part Two – click here
To see Salford Fat Cats Part Three – click here
Austerity and public sector cutbacks hasn't stopped some Chief Execs and top earners lapping up the cream of public money. In Part Four we look at just two Greater Manchester bodies in which Salford people have a stake. And these two are enough for anyone…
GREATER MANCHESTER WASTE DISPOSAL AUTHORITY (GMWDA)
"Our aim is zero waste" states the GMWDA, and adds that it's been another "challenging" year. So what rubbish has the GMWDA been up to? Well, let's see…
For the year 2011-12, the Director of Contract Services got a pay rise which saw his total package, including salary, car user allowance, expenses and pension contributions go up by £2,226 to a whopping £101,107, and the Treasurer and Deputy Clerk saw his total package rise to £121,810 thanks to a hike in employer pension contributions.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director, under the Flexible Retirement Policy, now works for the equivalent of just three days a week, although he keeps his full car users allowance (£1,239) and, together with expenses, pulls in £68,953. We repeat… three days a week for almost £69,000. And a full car user allowance. Where do we sign up for this Flexible Retirement Policy?
Salford tax payers cough up nearly £14million towards the GMWDA so it's good to see our councillors cashing in too, with almost £3,000 apiece (£2,916) for Councillor Ray Mashiter and Councillor James Hunt, doing `governance' duty.
We're sure that Salford Council refuse collectors, currently on a pay freeze and who stand to lose up to £10,000 each in wage cuts, will be really pleased to hear all this (see here).
MANCHESTER AIRPORT GROUP
Along with nine other councils in Greater Manchester, Salford Council owns 5% of Manchester Airport, while Manchester Council own 55%. John Merry recently explained to East Salford Community Committee that Salford earns around £1million a year from the Airport…
While the whole City of Salford earns a million quid from the sky polluting, green belt destroying airport, three Executive fattest-cats-in-the-region Directors actually hijacked more cash than that between them in the financial year to 2012…
Executive Director Charlie Cornish got £480,000 in `emoluments', including a £55,000 `incentive', a £15,000 `car/fuel card cash alternative' and £4,000 `benefits in kind'. This was over double his £200,000 package the year before.
Meanwhile, fellow director Penny Coates handbagged a £111,000 `incentive' as part of her total £283,000 package, and director Neil Thompson a £22,000 `incentive' as part of his £233,000 package.
The Airport also paid in a total of £203,300 for four directors, including the three above, for its Group's money purchase scheme, a pension type thing. One Non Executive Director, Mike Davies also pulled in £125,000.
With Fat Cats like these, it's no wonder there's nothing left in the kitty for Salford…
…And there's going to be even less if Manchester Airport Group's bid to flog off 35% of its equity to Australian group Industry Funds Management (IFM) goes ahead in order to buy Stansted Airport. Salford's stake in the Airport Group would reduce to 3.33%. Of course, there's nothing about this on Salford City Council's website*.
That's quite enough Fat Cats for today – with all this talk of waste and financial flights of fancy, we're off to find a sick bag…
• Thanks to Councillor Iain Lindley for pointing out the Airport flog off to us on Twitter…
More Fat Cats to follow… health, housing and whatever else we find in the monetary litter tray…
See Health Fat Cats Part Five - click here
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