Peter Gould, who left Northamptonshire County Council last May, received £215,000 in 2006/7, putting number one on a list published by the Taxpayers Alliance, which asked every council in the country to reveal how many of its officers received more than £100,000.

The list showed another nine employees at the authority received packages ranging from £125,000 to £145,000 during the same period.

It is the latest embarrassment for the council over pay after it was revealed last year that Mr Gould's retirement package cost taxpayers £560,000.

When he left in 2007, he received nearly £300,000 plus an annual pension of £97,000, which included two years' additional pension contributions, paid at the discretion of the council.

The council carried out a review of its pay and pensions structure following a damning independent report into pay, pensions and bonuses for senior officers carried out by consultants KPMG.

A council spokesman said: "Last month, as part of its effective leadership review, the council agreed to reduce the salary bands of all senior management roles and the pay policy is now aligned to the equivalent public sector benchmarks and not the private sector.

"Our effective leadership review, which also includes a reduction of managerial posts, will save the authority £1.7m.

"The council is the largest employer in the county and is responsible for services such as schools, children services, services for older people, the fire service, roads and transport. It's inevitable people with overall responsibility for such services, 9,000 staff are paid a wage to reflect this responsibility."

The council's new chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, earns between £153,630 and £187,776.

Six of the 10 county council employees on the list, including Mr Gould, no longer work for the authority.

Andrew Howard, who is managing director of P C Howard in Corby, said: "It's reasonable to award people a good package to attract the right type of person but it's staggering someone could receive £215,000.

"It's more than the Prime Minister."

When Mr Gould joined the council, he said he wanted it to have an excellent rating by 2006. When he left in 2007, it had a rating of two out of four stars.

What are you views on this story? Are council officials worth the money paid to them? Register on our site and leave your views or click here to send your views to the editor.