Cheshire West and Chester Council boss Steve Robinson received £30,000 in his role as returning officer at the general, borough and parish elections on May 7.

Mr Robinson, who earns £180,000 as CWaC chief executive, received a total of £14,212 for organising the general election poll in the four parliamentary constituencies of Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Eddisbury and Weaver Vale.

However, three deputy acting returning officers were paid £1,000 each from this fee because he was unable to preside at all four count centres.

The response to The Chronicle also reveals Mr Robinson received £18,908 for organising the borough and parish council elections which took place on the same day.

There is no provision to make deductions for problems that arose including a mix-up over wrong electoral registers at polling stations in Helsby and some postal votes being sent out late.

However, Mr Robinson waived his fee for running the Malpas Neighbourhood Referendum at Malpas. No other expenses were claimed by “save for overnight accommodation on the night of the parliamentary count”.

A council spokesman said earlier this year: “We would stress that the chief executive of CWaC is no different to any other returning officer in this country in that he is entitled to a fee paid by government to stage the elections. Indeed, this has been part of the requirements of the Representation of The People Act for the last 30 years.

“However, the chief executive of CWaC has already been reported by the Chronicle as believing that there are many aspects of the current system governing elections which are ripe for reform.

“He stands by those views – reported in September 2011 – and would have no objections if the fees paid to returning officers were to disappear. In fact, his fees paid in respect of the last two borough by-elections went to charity.

“Consequently, if the overall principle of paying returning officers is at issue, then the question should be put to central government.”

Parliamentary fees are paid from central government but The Chronicle has discovered that the borough and parish council elements are met by local council taxpayers according to a scale of fees agreed by senior elections managers from Cheshire West, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington councils.

Based on past experience, The Chronicle had predicted Mr Robinson would receive about £40,000 for the 2015 election compared with the actual £33,000 allocated to his office.

And CWaC has now confirmed that although the scale of fees has not changed, the rules were interpreted in a more generous way in the past specifically in terms of the parish/town council element.

In 2011, £150 was paid for each contested parish council election plus £47.50 per 1,000 electors rounded up to the nearest 1,000 – one third of the fee was paid for each uncontested election.

But in 2015 only one fee of £150 was paid across all contested parish elections plus £47.50 per 1,000 electors across the total electorate within affected parishes, again rounded up to the nearest 1,000. The same was done for uncontested parishes but for a third of the total fee.

The Chronicle asked the council if Mr Robinson is prepared to pay back any difference on the amount he would have received in 2011 had the 2015 interpretation applied.

Spokeswoman Rachel Ashley responded: “There is no reason for any fees to be repaid as they were not calculated incorrectly.”