The TaxPayers' Alliance has published a list of council employees who received more than £100,000 in the year 2006-2007, and revealed the highest paid in the region was Sunderland Council's chief executive Ged Fitzgerald on £174,156 a year.

The salary of Hartlepool Borough Council's most senior officer, chief executive Paul Walker, was not on the list. But today the council confirmed Mr Walker's pay is in the banding between £136,127 and £149,740 a year, around the same as a Government Cabinet member.

A council spokesman said: "Salaries for our chief officers reflect the level of responsibilities attached to their jobs."

Durham County Council, which is responsible for education and social services in east Durham, has six officers earning more than £100,000, but the District of Easington council does not have any on that level of pay.

The TaxPayers' Alliance submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act to every council in the country asking how many employees earned more than £100,000 a year. Six were found to receive more than £200,000 a year, with 88 on more than the Prime Minister Gordon Brown who earns £188,000.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers have a right to know how much senior town hall officials are being paid because only then can we judge whether they deserve their remuneration.

"Too often, council executives are rewarded handsomely even when they fail.

"Families and pensioners struggling with the demands of yet another council tax rise, and councils owe it to them to cut back on executive pay hikes."

Ben Farrugia, the Alliance's policy analyst, added: "With council tax bills now tipping many families over the edge, it is more important than ever that councils are open and transparent about their costs.

Council employees must be accountable to the local residents who pay them."