Essex County Council (ECC) paid close to £500,000 for a social media comedian to run "community engagement" throughout three years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finance documents released by the council show that Simon Harris, 40, made a total of £493,000 between June 4, 2020, and April 24, 2023.
His role was to provide "digital consultancy and delivery via social media channels" which included running a Facebook page and online community group for the campaign Essex Coronavirus Action (ECA).
In 2021, Mr Harris received £279,000 – more than the Prime Minister earns in a year.
The revelation comes just two days after the authority announced that it is raising its council tax by 4.99 per cent to "protect and develop essential services" from April.
ECC has faced criticism for what the TaxPayers' Alliance’s digital campaign manager Joe Ventre called "a waste of money".
He said: "While residents paid the price of the pandemic, the last thing they expected their hard-earned cash to be spent on is lining the pockets of a comedian.
"Essex County Council owe it to local households to crack down on waste and focus funds on frontline services."
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson, who was often taunted by Mr Harris on social media, took a jibe at the comedian.
He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Is this the same Simon Harris who has been trolling me on social media for the past year?
"Sending my best wishes to Simon at this difficult time."
The council said it is not able to comment on individual employees but stressed that "the payments covered more than just social media content, and included activity to directly support others doing similar work across the country".
A spokesperson said: "During the pandemic, and given the nature of the national emergency which the council was faced with, that contractor relationship was utilised to use social media – principally through the Essex Coronavirus Action (ECVA) channel - to engage with communities and share valuable information relating to restrictions, provide support to vulnerable individuals, volunteering opportunities including recruiting volunteers for vaccination centres, and share information on the various restrictions which were in place at various times, including their introduction, relaxation and what was and wasn’t allowed, throughout 2020, 2021 and into 2022.
"Much of the activity and campaigning concerned was amplifying information which the County Council had published and shared via its corporate social media channels, enabling the council to reach and engage with a much larger proportion of its population than would otherwise have been possible.
"The engagement levels the council achieved through ECVA and other social media channels managed by Simon Harris during the pandemic period were far in excess of what the council would usually have expected during a ‘normal’ period of operation."
The Standard has contacted Mr Harris for comment.
