Because they're worth it ?

When I first started in Local Government the "bible" was the Purple book that outlined our pay and conditions.
If you looked closely at the book Department Heads were paid in accordance with the number of bodies they employed so you
had the ridiculous situation where you had a checker of a checkers mate in every job or put another way it encouraged "Empire building".

In modern Local Government a lot of the top managers have been recruited from the Private sector.
Grass roots LG is controlled by elected representatives who are there to carry out the wishes of the local people who
voted for them. So if you ally the skills of the Private sector managers, the Elected representatives and a raft of experienced Local Government Officers who by living in the communities they serve understand the needs of the public, in the main and
despite the financial constraints they face Local Authorities now run " a tight ship" and attempt to deliver the best services that they possibly can for the cash at their disposal.

I was for some seven years along with others from other regions an advisor to successive Governments on
the transformation of Central and Local Government Procurement. Under Gordon Brown all key areas re- Energy, Transport, IT/ Reprographics, Food, Building Materials, Office Equipment/Furniture, Rail Travel, Hotel costs, Fleet Cars etc etc were aggregated in the form of national/regional contracts worth billions with a mandatory requirement that they were supported.

When David Cameron came to power although some interest continued the impetus seemed to be lost and individuals and organisations ( Academies) were encouraged to by - pass the National deals in deference to organising their own contracts which over a certain level of spend all have to be advertised in O.J.E.C ( Official Union of the European Union) which quite apart from any " quality gaps" caused by the difference in outline specification has lead to an absolute fortune now being wasted in beaurocracy and the sheer duplication of effort.!

 

At the top of the scale definitely - but (as in public) it's difficult just to quantify based on remuneration alone without looking at responsibility involved and the propensity of being removed for poor results.