THE top-paid council bosses have been named in a "rich list" of local authority pay earning hundreds of thousands of pounds from taxpayers.

Argyll and Bute Council chief executive Pippa Milne had a salary of £132,568 while executive director (section 95 financial officer) Kirsty Flanagan receives £107,054.

Executive director Douglas Hendry is on a salary of £106,908.

Each also had more than £20,000 in pension contributions and several hundred pounds paid out in expenses.

But the totals are far below the UK's richest council post, in Guildford, at more than £600,000 salary.

In all, there are 2,759 officials earning more than £100,000 for a country of more than 67 million people. Westminister Council has more than 50 officials on the high salaries.

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The "town hall rich list" was compiled by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA), who have the lowest possible grade for financial transparency by the campaigning and journalism website OpenDemocracy.

Questions have previously been raised about the group's connection to 55 Tufton Street, London, where regular meetings take place between right-wing think tanks and groups backing the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum.

The low-tax TPA linked their list to the cost-of-living struggles across the country and said council tax rises should be halted and "wasteful spending" cut.

Argyll and Bute Council was left with millions of pounds to trim for their budget this year, far beyond the total of three officials. Council tax was raised 5 per cent.

The tax rises contribute just a fraction of the funding gap left by the SNP Scottish Government and Tory Westminster government.

A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: "The salary of the council’s Chief Executive is calculated in accordance with national guidance.”