BOURNEMOUTH council has been criticised for hiring a temporary director for nine months for £153,000 in order to “fix a mess of the council’s own doing”.

Earlier this week the Daily Echo revealed that the authority has appointed Tom Rennie as its "service director – transition" in a pay deal which will see it hand over £900 a day to him and executive recruitment firm Penna.

Mr Rennie has been appointed to oversee the transfer of services from Kier Group – formerly Mouchel – back to the council after they were originally outsourced to the firm in 2010 in a bid to reduce costs and create jobs.

Just days ago the council announced a 3.9 per cent council tax hike – the maximum increase allowed.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the borough should be “more careful” in its long term planning: “Hard-pressed taxpayers will be staggered at this pay deal, particularly as it seems it’s simply to fix a mess of the council’s own doing.

“What’s worse is that local politicians have just announced a big tax hike, so residents will be left wondering whether they are simply paying more to foot the bill for top brass pay.

“The council must ensure that it is more careful in the long-term decisions it takes in order to protect both taxpayers and essential services.”

Services transferred to Mouchel by the council include revenues, benefits, ICT, human resources and payroll, and the original deal aimed to introduce overall savings of 40 per cent and create 350 new jobs.

However, in light of plans by the government to cut local authority grants by around £14 million in the next two years, council bosses say they need to take back control of all services and transfer 200 staff from Kier Group to allow them to make vital savings.

The council is also warning it is likely to increase existing charges for services and that some services may not be delivered at all in future.

The authority has said the decision to employ Mr Rennie was taken in light of the departure of former executive director of finance Ian Milner, who was paid £103,850 per year.

Chief executive Tony Williams said Mr Rennie’s status as an agency worker meant the authority would not have to pay holiday, sick day or pension contributions, as would have been the case if it had hired a permanent replacement.