I NOTE your editorial criticising the system whereby council chief executives receive fees for acting as returning officers at elections and referenda (“Election payments should be reviewed”, The Herald, April 27). Readers may be interested to know that some, if not all, of such fees are deemed to be reckonable earnings in the calculation of superannuation entitlement. It has been joked that, if a chief executive is contemplating retirement, he/she ensures that such retirement commences immediately following an election year. This means that his/her pension, which is for life, is commensurately enhanced to reflect the returning officer fee.

David SW Williamson,

49 Pinnaclehill Park, Kelso.