AFTER all the furore over MPs expenses in recent times readers will be staggered at the expenses that have been paid out to a highly paid yet temporary Kirklees Council executive.
Taxpayers funded the rent for Julie Alderson to live in Brighouse during her four months as interim director of resources and she was even able to claim for her weekend journeys back home to the north east along with her daily commute to Huddersfield.
That’s on top of claims for light bulbs, car parking, food and even batteries.
This is all the more galling for some Kirklees staff as she was brought in to draw up plans for huge efficiency savings.
Who else can claim for all this? According to Kirklees Council, Ms Alderson’s deal was “commonplace,” which seems to suggest that it was routine.
But make no mistake, it is not an arrangement which is commonplace for the vast majority of people who have to find the money out of their own pockets for these sorts of costs and yet earn dramatically less than Ms Alderson.
And if it is indeed commonplace then it appears the council still doesn’t get it and is massively out of touch with the people who pay its bills.
