FIFTEEN council employees in the north received annual remuneration of more than £100,000 prior to the establishment of the new 'supercouncils', figures from the Taxpayers Alliance have shown.
At three of the former 26 councils - Ards, Ballymena and Derry - two employees each received more than £100,000 in the 2013/14 tax year.
The amount is not limited to salary and encompasses bonuses, compensation for loss of office and employers’ pension contributions.
At nine councils, one employee, traditionally the chief executive, took home more than £100,000.
The remaining 14 former councils had no staff earning more than £100,000.
At a time of widespread cuts to government budgets, the numbers represent a five fold increase in four years from 2009-10, when just three council employees in all of Northern Ireland were paid more than £100,000.
These included Peter McNaney, the former head of Belfast City Council, who received a car allowance of £1,500 on top of a £122,000 salary.
Under the reform of local government, 11 new councils were created in April.
The minimum amount earned by a chief executive of a new council in the north this year will be £95,000, with eight councils setting a maximum pay rate of £110,000.
Two councils - Newry, Mourne and Down; and Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon - agreed a salary package of between £105,000 and £120,000 for its new chief executives.
The chief executive of Belfast City Council, Suzanne Wylie, will earn a minimum of £120,000 per year, rising to a performance-related maximum of £135,000.
However, Northern Ireland pales in comparison to the rest of the UK when it comes to council pay.
No-one at any council in the north earned more than £150,000, the only UK region where that was the case.
More than 650 people across England, Scotland and Wales took home more than £150,000, with the chief executive of Cumbria County Council, Jill Stannard, the highest earner of any council employee, with a staggering £411,000 package.
