A row has broken out over the number of people earning more than £50,000 at the city council at a time when thousands of workers face losing their jobs.
The leader of Dundee City Council’s Labour opposition, Councillor Kevin Keenan, has asked the council’s chief executive to investigate the situation.
In an e-mail to David Martin, Mr Keenan said the “position did not sit well” given the pressure the council was currently under.
Mr Keenan said figures released in Dundee City Council’s annual accounts revealed that last year, 18 people joined the top earnings bracket.
He added that was at a time of finding £7 million budget cuts.
Mr Keenan added: “Given that we face a further budget cut of £28 million during the next two years this does not sit well.”
Earlier this week the council’s finance convener Councillor Willie Sawers warned nowhere would escape the impact of finding the £28 million savings.
He warned it was inevitable there would be job cuts, although he promised there would be no compulsory redundancies and said savings would be achieved through voluntary redundancies.
A report to go before the council’s policy and resources committee on Monday also reveals the council plans to re-structure senior management positions.
They hope to save £400,000 towards the budget savings by doing so.
However, Mr Keenan said given 18 new posts had been created, any restructuring would simply take them back to the position they were in a year ago and wouldn’t save any extra money.
He said: ”We cannot afford to have any other potential overspend and whilst we look to shed workforce through redundancy and voluntary early retirement. There is the potential for a great deal of knowledge to be lost increasing the risk for the council.”
Mr Keenan has asked that at a minimum, a sub-committee is formed to over-view the HR process.
There are 166 council employees earning between £50,000 and £140,000.
A council spokesman said: “The chief executive will respond to Councillor Keenan directly in due course.”