It is nice to see in these times of austerity that there is still a few quid left in the council coffers!
Front line services are cut along with the jobs, we cannot afford lollipop ladies and gents on the school crossing, nor the carers to look after the old and infirm, the end is surely nigh – but worry not good people of Barnsley, things are not as bad as they would appear, a new chief executive is on the way and there are sufficient funds to pay an expensive recruitment consultancy to find one.
But the best is yet to come, if the current salary of £136,000 does not tickle the taste buds of the chosen one, there is still a few bob left to make sure the aforementioned cannot say no. £150,000, £175,000 maybe. And so, as the New Year approaches, the doom and the gloom will surely be lifted. If you have lost your job, had your hours reduced, child care costs increased or care home closed, you may sleep content in the knowledge that some of the financial savings that have been identified as a result could quite possibly be used to increase the paltry salary of our new chief executive.
And things, as the song goes, can only get better – the outgoing incumbent may return to the fold in another form. Yes you guessed it, a consultant, unpaid of course!
It would appear that when it comes to the public purse the snouts are still in the troughs.
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© 2013 Barnsley Chronicle Ltd