Council Finances - Where we are now.

[g jones]

This is an article I wrote yesterday. The summary is prepare for huge cuts. There is no other remedy. Part due to the Government balancing their books and part due to poor administration by the outgoing leader and his cabinet members.

I refuse to accept the argument the Council was well run.

I have not written about the £1m going into reserves which is not for reserves - as in reserves - but to be set aside for redundancies.

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

£6m worth of cuts the Tories have left and rising


I can understand the Tories wanting to talk about the positives after 10 years in power and defend themselves against any criticism. However that should not prevent the facts being put forward. They have left £6m worth of cuts, some of which were run up cynically to win the recent local election

Transitional Relief promised twice over

Knowing they had received an extra £2.6m in January (gov't transitional relief) they promised £2.6m to Woodnook at the beginning of February and promised £2million plus at the beginning of March.

They argue that quietly they had decided to axe the £2.6m Woodnook so there was no overspending. Unfortunately the people of Woodnook are claiming quite rightly they had been promised this funding by the Council leader, quoting him and his councillors and the published newspaper article.

Furthermore the Council has potential legal obligations. The chair of the 12 Pathfinders told me that Hull Council are facing two blight compensation notices.

It's been left to Labour to pick up the pieces. However it's even more problematic than that now with the Government offering Woodnook around £1.5m which the Council much match fund 50% out of the £2.6m or face losing the £1.5m.

Either way it amounts to £2.6m worth of disappointment to someone and at last nights’ Woodnook Residents Association there was a feeling of how can someone do this and get away with it.

Failed to balance this years income and expenditure

On the revenue side I am informed that expenditure over income this year is £300,000 which has been taken from reserves.

No plan for a further £2.5m of government cuts before Christmas

The Tories were unable to balance this years books and this in the full knowledge of the cuts the Council has to find up in the next 6 months for next years budget which amount to an additional £2.5m. A total of £2.8m of cuts and that still leaves reserves £300k down. The Tories had no medium term plan to cut expenditure and so Labour Councillors have to find the £2.8m.

The Leader of the Council has long maintained the Gordon Brown was spending way beyond the nations means so why was he not only spending every penny he received but £2m more every year.

Living beyond their means for a decade

The Tories have been living beyond their means for decade. Between 1998 and 2005 The Council had been financing £2m of Capital expenditure through borrowing culminating in debts (non Council Housing) increasing from the previous Labour administration of £11m (1998) to a £27m (2006).

Since 2006 The Council have been funding around £2m of capital works from grants given by the last Labour Government, grants which were given to deprived areas and which now have been axed. This year the Tories put forward another £2m of capital works - such as £550,000 further to Pendle Street - using what will be the last payment made by the Government.

Re-roofing public buildings for example has to be done from time to time. Capital expenditure is necessary. I have argued for many years that the Council is on a crash course, it is spending (by £2m) beyond it's means. The fact Gordon Brown was so generous is not an argument for sound financial management.

That £2m of capital expenditure will now have to found every year from a £2m further reduction in revenue spending.

Mismanagement adds further costs

The Council's sloppiness in losing the high court case to landlords is expected to cost £100,000k plus any liabilities around the parking fines fiasco.

Add in old refuse vehicles in need of replacement at around £1m with nothing put aside over the last 8 years and you are looking at £6m of reductions due primarily to two reasons; false promises over the £2.6m and poor political management.

Making sure nothing is left for Labour?

The state of the Council's management is best explained by the Cabinet Action Fund. Weeks before the election the Tories increased it from £68,000 to £100,000 and then spent it all in two weeks (including payments to every Conservative Club) to make sure nothing was left.

Who would run a council so badly?

Through to next April there is no money left in the emergency Cabinet Action Fund. What kind of politician does that? What kind of politician increase the opposition leaders budget before losing an election? The same person who began a debate with the Labour Leader arguing that he wanted to be paid a sizeable parachute payment if he he lost his leaders allowance.

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by g jones

The Leader of the Council has long maintained the Gordon Brown was spending way beyond the nations means so why was he not only spending every penny he received but £2m more every year.

Err...surely you mean the ex-leader of the council?

[Margaret Pilkington]

I am waiting for the ex council leader to write to the Observer and tell us it is lies, all lies.........as he surely will.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I am waiting for the ex council leader to write to the Observer and tell us it is lies, all lies.........as he surely will.

Will the Telegrapgh do ?

Tories hit back in Hyndburn council cash ?black hole? row (From Lancashire Telegraph)

[garinda]

What I don't understand, is if it's true, is why they carried out a scorched earth spending policy.

Unlike the last Labour government, they of the 'The Treasury is empty' note, who it was fairly clear were about to lose office, this wasn't necessarily the case here in Hyndburn.

The Conservatives could very well have hung on to power, and would have had to deal with the spending policy they undertook. Which we are told now makes the finances of the council perilous, and therefore we are about to see draconian cuts implemented.

Perhaps I'm just thick, but it doesn't make sense to me.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Will the Telegrapgh do ?

Tories hit back in Hyndburn council cash ?black hole? row (From Lancashire Telegraph)

I for one am very confused by all this.

Hopefully the leader of the council will come along soon and explain fully what is going on.

[Margaret Pilkington]

The thing is, if what Graham says is not true, then he is the one who will ultimately lose his credibility and integrity.

And we didn't have very long to wait for PB to put his twopennorth in...unless of course ti is a quote from last weeks Observer....the Telegraph wouldn't do that would they? Steal a week old qoute from another publication?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Neil

I for one am very confused by all this.

Hopefully the leader of the council will come along soon and explain fully what is going on.

Now Neil, don't you be holding your breath while you wait.

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Neil

Hopefully the leader of the council will come along soon and explain fully what is going on.

What ? Red Ken ?? I'm sure he will, he's not been backward about coming forward our Ken !

[entwisi]

I was just wondering why Graham has posted all this and not our new Council Leader.

Sorry Graham but I'd rather you focus on your role as MP and let the local council leader focus on his job ( and by that I mean setting out how we are going to work for the next X years not how much mud he can chuck at someone across the council chamber)

far too much energy is wasted on "he said this, he did that" as opposed to making OUR TOWN the best it can be with the funds it has. If I worked like that in my job I'd be thrown out as not fit for purpose. We all know there are lies damm lies and council finances so lets stop messing about and get on with the job in hand.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

I for one am very confused by all this.

Hopefully the leader of the council will come along soon and explain fully what is going on.

Now, now.

Don't get too silly.

When demands were made that the last leader of the council come on here, to communicate with the hoi polloi, you were always the first to jump up and down, and say 'Why should he?'.

We've already been told the new leader isn't going to join in the fun on here.

We'll just have to take comfort from the two posts on Accy Web, made by a serving leader of Hyndburn Borough Council.

Originally Posted by TheLeadersOffice HBC

Councillor Peter Britcliffe has issued the following statement regarding the Complaint against Councillor Graham Jones for putting forward and approving a scheme to improve his own street at an Area Council meeting in the Autumn of 2008:

"I thank those who are giving me credit for this complaint as Councillor Jones has often vexaciously tried to implicate me in similar situations. However, the first time I knew about this was when I read the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and was told I was getting the blame for this on the Web.

Councillor Jones knows as well as anybody how careful we all have to be so that we do not offend the standards set by his Government. At times it is like treading on egg shells, hence I have never been able to propose Hanging Baskets or Christmas Decorations for the Infant Street area where I have a business interest. It also precluded me from taking part in the Pennine Sq/Peel St development competition as if I had I am quite sure Councillor Jones would have been one of the first to make a complaint. So even though it is Spring, he really should not bleat like a lamb when someone decides to play him at his own game."

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...tml#post701192

Originally Posted by TheLeadersOffice HBC

In 2008/09, the Council's budget was £15,097. This year it will be £15,427. This is an increase in our spend of only 2.2%. The reason why our precept is to increase by 4.95% is because Government funding to the Council has only been increased by 1.5% and the rest of the money has to be found from the local taxpayer. If the Government had given us the amount it has claimed in the national press, it would have been possible to set a zero percent increase this year in Hyndburn.

********************

These are the facts, you can now argue over them as much as you wish but it won't alter the figures.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...tml#post691676

[Margaret Pilkington]

Personally, I don't care who tells us what is happening.....I only care that we are kept in the picture.
And while I agree with your sentiments about the name calling and the mud slinging....and maybe that is why Miles Parkinson isn't on here. Perhaps he is doing exactly what you have said you want......getting on with the job in hand.

And shouldn't the quote be 'Lies, damn lies and statistics'.......literary licence?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by garinda

Now, now.

Don't get too silly.

When demands were made that the last leader of the council come on here, to communicate with the hoi polloi, you were always the first to jump up and down, and say 'Why should he?'.

We've already been told the new leader isn't going to join in the fun on here.

I know thats why I find it so funny that its ok for one leader to not come on here but not for another.

I will go back in my cupboard now and stay quiet

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

I know thats why I find it so funny that its ok for one leader to not come on here but not for another.

I will go back in my cupboard now and stay quiet

We've been told the new council leader won't be posting on here.

The last leader did.

Though after two posts, we wanted many more of the same.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

I will go back in my cupboard now and stay quiet

Is that the same thing as the Americans call a closet?