NEW figures show that two senior managers at Winchester City Council are paid more than £100,000.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has released its 2013 town hall ‘rich list’ featuring the latest figures for how many public servants earned more than £100,000 in 2011-12.

At Winchester there were two, chief executive Simon Eden and Stephen Whetnall, corporate director (governance), the same as the previous year.

Although Mr Whetnall is junior to Mr Eden he also acts as returning officer at local and general elections which boosts his income to £109,000.

TPA figures report that the amount of money spent on officers in Southampton earning more than £100,000 a year actually increased from 2010-11 to 2011-12.

But the climate of widespread austerity is illustrated by the fact that three authorities in the county have cut the number of top-level public servants.

Hampshire County Council saved almost £1.5m by bidding farewell to ten staff on packages of more than £100,000 and scaling back payments to other staff members.

The TPA figures show that Hampshire chief executive Andrew Smith was the top earning civil servant in the county, with a salary of £207,372 in 2011-12.

His yearly pay packet was increased to £234,538 by employer pension contributions.

Twenty-eight of his colleagues – including children’s services director and deputy chief executive John Coughlan, on £167,734 – were also on salaries of more than £100,000 for 2011-12.

But that figure had shrunk by ten from 2010-11. No one from the county council was available for comment.

Fareham Borough Council and Gosport Borough Council also reduced the number of staff bringing in more than £100,000, from two to one.

Southampton City Council’s former chief executive Alistair Neill was the third best-paid civil servant in Hampshire in 2011-12 with a basic salary of £165,753. But that was topped up to £188,919 by other payments and employer pension contributions. He left the council in March.