KENT County Council has two of the highest paid town hall chiefs in the country, it has emerged.

Chief executive Peter Gilroy earned nearly £230,000 last year for managing the largest county council in the country, over £43,000 more than the Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Meanwhile Graham Badman, the man in charge of Kent’s 600-plus schools, was paid just under £190,000, also more than Mr Blair.

The six-figure salary paid to Mr Gilroy, who has been KCC’s chief executive since 2005, made him the highest paid town hall chief in England, according to figures released to pressure group the Taxpayers’ Alliance under the Freedom of Information Act.

Conservative county council leader Paul Carter mounted a strong defence of the amounts paid to Mr Gilroy and Mr Badman.

"Kent County Council is a massive organisation with massive responsibility. I think that quite rightly Kent needs to attract the very best people to run and be responsible for services," he said.

Mr Gilroy had proved his worth by taking Kent to the top of the council league tables, with the council being recently named as one of the best-performing in the country, he added.

"The Audit Commission gave us the highest four-star rating for the way we run our services and only one other council got a higher rating. A lot of that is down to the leadership of Peter and the chief officers."

He emphasised that KCC was the largest education authority in the country, with more than 600 schools and a massive re-building programme.

The survey also revealed that the salaries of three other KCC senior officers topped £100,000 in 2005-2006. Peter Raine, strategic planning director, earned £139,999; Oliver Mills, social services director also earned £139,999 while Geoff Wild, the county secretary earned £119,000.

The disclosure of the earnings of KCC’s chief officers was less well received by unions representing county council staff. An official described the amounts as "outrageous" in view of the possible of 190 job losses facing staff in budget cuts.

The Taxpayers Alliance chairman Andrew Allum said: "Thousands of pensioners are having to choose between heating their homes and paying their council tax bills. It’s an insult to their dignity so much money goes down the drain on top salaries for council staff."