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The Council’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and four Directors between them, were paid £583,065 for the 2021/22 financial year with Marie Ward the highest paid of the 11 council CEOs in Northern Ireland, at £152,463.
The figures were released by the TaxPayers’ Alliance - an independent UK grassroots campaign for lower taxes, which was launched by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum in 2004 to speak for ordinary taxpayers fed up with government waste, increasing taxation, and a lack of transparency in all levels of government - and reported upon in the Belfast Telegraph on Wednesday April 19.
According to the report, Mrs Ward’s £152,463 earnings were made up of a salary at £127,500, a £100 bonus and almost £25,000 in pension contributions.
Closest paid council CEO to Mrs Ward was Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council’s Roger Wilson at £152,363, followed by Jacqui Dixon, CEO at Antrim and Newtownabbey Council at £147,388, then Stephen Reid, CEO at Ards and North Down on £147,688.
Head of the biggest council in the North, Suzanne Wylie (who stepped down in 2021) earned £146,388, the same amount as John Kelpie, CEO at Derry City and Strabane Council.
Alison McCullagh, CEO at Fermanagh and Omagh Council earned £137,002 in 2021/22 with Anne Donaghy, CEO at Mid and East Antrim (resigned in January 2023) earning £122,500, as did David Jackson, the Chief Executive at Causeway Coast and Glens.
The two lowest paid council CEOs were David Burns at Lisburn and Castlereagh Council - £118,000, and Adrian McCreesh at £110,000 at Mid Ulster council.
Newry, Mourne and Down Directors
The Deputy CEO designate of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, and Director of Corporate Services in 2021/22 was Dorinnia Carville. She earned some £41,825 less than Mrs Ward at £110,638.
Ms Carville has since left the council to become the Northern Ireland Comptroller and Auditor General - the government’s Chief Accountant in the North.
Michael Lipsett, the Director of the Active Health Communities Department (inc. outdoor and indoor leisure, the arts, community grants) also earned £110,638 in 2021/22.
Mr Lipsett has since left the council having taken, it is believed, early retirement.
Another who has left his post is Jonathon McBride who, as Director of Neighbourhood Services (inc. bin collections, street cleansing, recycling), earned £104,663.
This department - now renamed the Sustainability and Environment Department - is on its sixth director in the eight years of the ‘new’ council established in April 2015 following the amalgamation of Down and Newry and Mourne district councils.
The fourth £100k+ earning Director is Conor Mallon. Mr Mallon is the Council’s Director of Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism (inc. Newry regeneration projects [theatre, new council offices, park], the gondola into the Mourne, business development and Planning) and he earned £104,663.
