Den Bosch mayor Ton Rombouts earns some €85,000 a year from other work on top of his position as head of the city’s local government apparatus, according to research by RTL news.

Rombouts, who will stand down this autumn after 21 years as mayor, counts membership of the senate for the CDA and a board position on the Dutch sports federation NPC*NSF among his additional jobs.

‘They enrich the city,’ Rombouts said in a reaction. According to RTL he is the biggest earner among the country’s 390 mayors.

Next on the list, with earnings of €40,800, is Haarlem mayor Bernt Schneiders, followed by Han Noten of Dalfsen and Toon van Asseldonk of Overbetuwe council.

On average, a Dutch mayor has 12 extra jobs, but eight of them are related to his or her functioning as mayor, RTL said. Mayors need the permission of local councillors to take up private work.

In total, mayors earned €1.2m in extra income in 2015, the RTL survey found. Almost three-quarters of local authorities took part in the research.