The sheer arrogance of Cllr Nigel Ayre (‘We’ve cut back senior roles’, April 20) simply beggars belief - the best bit being his declaration of making no apology for saving money.

Does he really think, even in his wildest dreams, that the public will be distracted by this unrelated issue, away from the real story which is the auditors’ getting even closer to the truth on the payments made to the former Chief Executive?

Perhaps the executive member for finance might like to start thinking about how he’s going to explain the auditors’ statement that the amount paid out was £117,000 - of our money - larger than it should have been and was potentially unlawful?

But if he wants to talk about the remaining fat cat salaries, can he tell us why officers on such high wages still fail to spot these obvious accounting errors?

Perhaps he might also like to explain why Mary Weastell was replaced by a man who was the only candidate for the job?

I won’t hold my breath waiting for believable answers to these very important questions.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York