The salary of Kirklees Council’s chief executive has nudged over the £150,000 mark.

Adrian Lythgo’s pay for 2014/15 is £150,059 – a 1.8% rise on his 2013/14 salary of £147,401.

The council’s Statement of Accounts show he is the only Kirklees Council officer to earn over £150,000.

He leads five directorates and heads up an organisation with around 7,000 full-time equivalent workers.

The accounts also show the number of council officers earning over £50,000 dropped from 89 last year to 84 this year. The figure is higher if it includes school staff, with 157 teachers on a salary of more than £50,000 – the highest earns between £110,000 - £114,999.

Kirklees Council is holding a council-wide senior management review with planned savings of £489,000 in top pay over the next three years.

David Smith, the council’s Director of Resources, said the chief executive salary is at the lower end of the scale when compared to councils with a similar budget and population.

Salaries of Kirklees Council directors

Mr Smith said: “The chief executive’s pay reflects the standard pay rise everyone at the council received, plus the part-year effect of an increment triggered by an appraisal by leading councillors – with other employees, increments are awarded following an appraisal by their manager.

“The amount for his role as Returning Officer is already included in the published figure.

“The table for other staff – excluding teachers – also includes redundancy payments, and reflects actual pay during the year, that is there are some part-year effects in the table.

“Overall, excluding teachers who are outside the control of the council, numbers receiving pay including redundancy above £50,000 fell from 89 to 84.

“There are the same number of staff in post with annualised salaries of more than £100,000 at the end of both financial years.”

Mr Lythgo took over as chief executive in August 2010 on a salary of £142,954 – well below that of his predecessor who left when his annualised salary would have topped £161,666.

Analysis by the Examiner shows Mr Lythgo’s pay is one of the lowest in West Yorkshire and compared to similar-sized councils.

In West Yorkshire only Calderdale’s chief executive, Merran McRae, earns less on £146,000. Wakefield Council’s boss is on a salary of £175,190, just behind Leeds City Council’s chief on £176,906.

Comparable councils in Greater Manchester include Tameside, whose chief executive is on £166,929; Bury’s is £151,743 and Wigan’s is £165,000.