Leeds City Council spent £23.3m on staff earning over £50,000 last year, according to new figures.
The figure was down £292,500 compared to the previous year.
According to campaign group the Taxpayers’ Alliance, Leeds employed 365 people on more than £50,000, down 11 on the last financial year.
The figures make it one of the top ten in the country for employing higher paid staff.
A Leeds City Council spokeswoman said: “The salaries paid to our senior managers are consistent with their duties and responsibilities in ensuring that a wide range of services are delivered efficiently and effectively to a population of 760,000 people in the city.
“As part of our ongoing drive to reduce staffing costs, 1,800 members of staff have left the authority since April 2010, which represents a 12.5 per cent reduction in the overall council workforce excluding school-based staff. The number of senior management posts reduced by 21 per cent over the same period.”
Wakefield Council cut the number of people earning more than £50,000 by 110 to 202, reducing its wage bill for higher earners by £6.3m to £12.4m.
The report suggests Bradford Council had the biggest bill in Yorkshire for spending on higher earning staff in the last financial year with around 500 people between them earning £32m.
Harrogate Council employed 22 people above the £50,000 threshold, together sharing an estimated £1.5m.
Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers are still paying far too much for bloated bureaucracies that have been established in too many town halls over the last decade.
“Councillors need to insist that their local authority does more to find savings and cut back on staff costs that residents cannot afford.”
Across Yorkshire, just over £100m was spent last year on staff earning more than £50,000, a fall of £25.4m on the previous year.
Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis said: “For too long the senior local government pay bill has spiralled up and up and taxpayers have been left footing the bill.
“This report exposes the fact that town halls still have massive scope to make sensible savings to protect important frontline services and freeze council tax.”
A Local Government Association spokesman said: “The 12.5 per cent cut in management costs is good news for council tax payers.
“Middle and senior managers make up around 1 per cent of the total local government workforce, which compares favourably with practices elsewhere in the public and private sectors.”
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