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Sunderland councillors were involved in a lively spat over the salary of their new chief executive recently. In a clear reference to Nissan – the Japanese car manufacturer with a plant in the area – the Tory opposition leader claimed that when the city was facing massive job losses, the local authority should think ‘carefully' about its salaries. The new Sunderland chief executive, David Smith, is receiving £170,000, and some recent awards have been higher than the prime minister's pay. Yet, when invited in the Commons recently to attack a package given to a former chief executive of Northamptonshire, Gordon Brown declined to do so. Perhaps he knows that the well of talent prepared to take on these ever-more demanding jobs is drying up. Whether it's Icelandic banks or ice on the roads, the buck invariably stops at the chief executive's desk. CPA makes the performance of the person at the top more measurable. Audit Commission evidence suggests that in the four years up to 2008, the salary levels of top officers in single-tier and county councils rose by 34%. Now, I wonder if that was because councillors were feeling generous, or was it the functioning of the market? That said, top salaries in local government are going to come under increasing fire from a public growing more angry by the day at the pay of top people, whether they be bankers or chief executives. And with almost zero interest rates depleting authorities' coffers, councillors are not going to have the option of paying top whack for the best person. A recent Centre For Cities report indicated some of the challenges facing Sunderland. The need to develop the city centre, to integrate more closely into the Tyne and Wear economy, and to encourage a new generation of ‘born and bred' Sunderland businesses. Mr Smith will have plenty to do to earn his top dollar

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Soap Box

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