TAXPAYERS paid £1,000 a month in expenses for a highly-paid Kirklees Council executive who lives in the North-East.

The council paid for Julie Alderson to rent a flat in Brighouse during her four-month stint as interim director of resources with responsibility for cost-cutting.

Kirklees also financed her weekly journey from her home in the North-East to Brighouse and her daily commute to Huddersfield.

And Ms Alderson who was on a salary equivalent to £120,000 a year charged taxpayers £11.52 for lightbulbs and batteries for her flat at Millroyd Mill on Huddersfield Road.

The apartment complex boasts a swimming pool, gym and jacuzzi.

Ms Alderson worked for Kirklees for just four months, helping the council draw up a plan to slash its budget by £80m in the next three years, with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

The expenses revelations came to light after the Examiner used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain claims for December, 2010, andJanuary, 2011.

The figures show Ms Alderson received £1,988.66 in living expenses in two months.

Kirklees hired her as interim director of resources last October. She left the council late last month when David Smith was appointed to the permanent position.

Ms Alderson, who has worked for councils in Scarborough and South Tyneside, lives in the North-East

After she was hired, Kirklees agreed to pay the rent and running costs for a flat in Brighouse and for Ms Alderson's weekly journey to and from the North-East.

Unusually, the council also paid mileage for Ms Alderson's daily commute from Brighouse to Huddersfield.

The figures for December, 2010, and January, 2011, show:

Ms Alderson claimed £694.40 for 1,736 miles travelled. The figure incudes 5.5 round trips to the North-East and journeys between her Brighouse flat and her Huddersfield office

Kirklees also paid for 11 tolls on the Tyne Tunnel at s1.20 a time

Ms Alderson claimed £76.80 a month for parking in Kirklees

The council paid £390 a month for the rent of her Brighouse apartment

Ms Alderson also claimed £106.22 for council tax; £85.91 for a months electricity and £11.52 for batteries and lightbulbs for the flat.

The council gave Ms Alderson £138.21 for meals and groceries.

A council spokesman said yesterday that the deal was commonplace.

He said: "Ms Alderson was employed on the kind of standard interim contract which is commonplace in local government.

"These do cover accommodation and travel costs, but the overall cost can actually be lower than those for a permanent employee.

"For permanent staff the council pays National Insurance and pension contributions, in addition to a salary, but this did not apply to Ms Alderson.

"If the council had been paying a permanent director during this period, instead of Ms Alderson as an interim, the total cost would have been similar."

The spokesman added that not hiring Ms Alderson would have been a false economy.

"There was a thorough recruitment process for the interim role and it was vital that we appointed the best available candidate," he said.

"The cut in government funding means we have no choice but to make some very difficult decisions and the director of resources role is central to this work.

"The role includes overall responsibility for finance and Ms Alderson worked in Kirklees at the time we were preparing for our most difficult budget ever.

"We selected someone who was the best available candidate and had a wealth of experience in the public and private sectors.

"To do anything else would have been irresponsible and a false economy.

"The director of resources role was created so that we could combine three previous directorates and save money.

"We try to avoid interim appointments but sometimes it is necessary. In this case, our previous director of finance became chief executive and we had to fulfil a legal duty to employ someone with the appropriate qualifications."

When asked how Kirklees could justify paying for Ms Aldersons lightbulbs and batteries, the spokesman replied: "We intend to hold a review which will examine whether such items can be subject to expenses claims in future."

Ms Alderson could not be reached for comment yesterday.