It is entirely possible, that with the publication of the latest financial report that we are due to receive on Monday evening, we will learn the true extent of the financial crisis that the Tories have engineered in Thanet Council.
I say “possible” because the usual smoke and mirrors will be employed to obscure the true picture, and the excuses are already being deployed. Look out for the words “Credit Crunch” and “Economic Downturn”.
The facts are:
The Council entered this financial year knowing that if nothing was done, this year’s budget would be in deficit by about £1M. We are 6 months into the budget year, and nothing has been done.
The Tories were warned by the Leader of the Labour Group that if nothing was done to curb the salary bill, then the Council was heading for trouble. Nothing was done and in fact, the Council is employing more people than at the beginning of the previous financial year.
Four months into the financial year we had a report showing that even the £1M deficit budget was being overspent by £0.5 million
It does not take a genius to realise that if this was allowed to continue that we would end the year with a £3M deficit. That is without the impact of the worsening economic climate which will impact on the Council’s income from rents and parking etc., and its costs for energy etc.
Councils are not allowed to run deficit budgets, so what can we expect to see?
A freeze on replacing posts that become vacant – supposedly “painless” but distorts the workforce as the best staff are those most likely to leave for other jobs, and the burden is left for those that remain.
Redundancies – The situation is so bad that I believe this to be inevitable, probably about 50 or 60. The problem is that in the short term redundancies cost money, and savings are long term.
A pay freeze – last year, the Tories broke with the pay agreement that had governed council pay for years. To get agreement to this they made certain promises. It will be interesting to see how long they last.
A raid on the Council’s reserves – again, there are problems because the Tories have already run them dangerously low.
Cuts in services – I expect these to be drastic in some areas, less so in others but still significant.
Finally, Council Tax, I expect the proposed increase to be way above inflation, more in the region of 4-5%.
What we won’t see, I suspect, is any suffering by those that have engineered this mess. Will Cllr Martin Wise resign? I suspect not. Will senior officers take a pay cut? You must be joking.
The last Tory administration ended with the whole staff on notice of redundancy. This one is heading the same way.
Stella Artwat
7 hours ago
23 comments:
Dave, in 1995 the councillors basic allowance set by the incoming Labour council was set at £69 per month. What is it today and what are the increases since 2003.
Given that Gordon Brown has sat and watched, apparently without realising, while the banks lent long and borrowed short in vast amounts, thus helping to create the biggest financial crisis ever experienced in the history of the world, that Cllr.Wise will be taking any lessons from you Cllr.Green.
Particularly as I know for a fact that he has been advocating cuts of 50 posts for the last 5 years. His instincts are as hatchetman, but to his credit he has listened to colleagues and given the need to preserve services for residents priority.
But you are a hypocrit, because you have voted for pay rises for yourself at every opportunity, and have always fought every cut back that has been proposed.
As I have often said ,David you are a complete hypocrite, I truly cannot believethat you believe half of the "crap" you write, it is perfectly clear to anyone with a brain, that Labour have totally destroyed any credibility they just might have had, this economic melt down is the responsibility of the "prudent " Prime Minister, and Alistair Darling alegedly knew a few month ago that Iceland was in trouble and did nothing to protect the UK investors.David as you belong to a Party that has totally lost the plot and betrayed the Electorate, you now revert to Labour Form, which is when you are bereft of any policy or principles that you attack the intergrity of the Council and elected Group.Get a life David and if you cant do that get real.
Tony
I think the basic allowance now is £356.16 per month. But you have to remember that in '95, councillors could claim for each attendance at a committee. This is no longer the case.
Anonymous
With Iceland, Ukraine and Hungary asking for loans from the IMF, anf the stock market in Japan at an all time low, its a bit much to blame this crisis on Gordon.
If your saying there should have been more regulation, then I agree, but who other than the left were caling for that 5 years ago. Certainly not the City or their friends in the Tory party.
I thought the Labour Party wanted to keep the Council Tax increase to 2% paid for by cutting the staff budget by 10%, meaning an increased shortfall unless it could cut its staffing levels by at least the requisite 10%? I understand the Labour Group opposes the Councils Asset Disposal programme, aiming to raise funds for the Council coffers. Therefore, simple question, what would local Labour do?
Anonymous 13:35
I had heard that Cllr Wise's advice had been over-ridden last year, I assume by Ezekiel/Latchford. If so, surely all the more reason to consider his position.
James
You are quite right, Cllr Nicholson did advocate some such measures last year. If his advice had been taken we would be in a better position now.
Labour does not oppose the Council making best use of its assets. It does oppose what is proposed for some of them, without a detailed consideration of the public benefit. Now is perhas not the best time to be selling off assets?
David, you are such a big fat slimy grease ball. How can anybody take you seriously with those big chou chou cheeks and that cheeky smile? I am sure that the nasty thug Cllr.Wise is quaking in his boots that you think he should have sacked all his chums at the council because Cllr. Richie Nicky said so.
I think the nasty remarks made in the last entry were quite uncalled for.
I was invited by a local events company to have breakfast with Sandy and Roger recently but have declined the invitation. They wreak enough havoc on their side of the island without us having to put up with them in Ramsgate or in this case Pegwell as well. Who on earth votes for these people?
Anon 22.26
What a rude and ignorant person you are. If you want people to take your opinions seriously you need to wise up.
I see that Roger Gale was one of the tory MPs to attned a Bruge Group reception the other week.
It says everything you need to know about Thanet toryism that our local Tory MP would attned a function held by this ultra right winf xenophobic little britain crowd.
They care nothing for Thanet and even less for Ramsgate a town they see as second rate and lower priority due to their being no votes here for them.
No wonder that people are put off voting or believing what politicians say, from the yaa boo
politics of Cameron and Brown down to local levels here in Thanet.
We need inteligent consensus politics if we are going to succeed
in getting broken Britain better, if our politicians speak the language of the gutter.
Politicians from Labour and the Conservatives living it up on millionaires boats whilst the majority of the rest of us are struggling to make ends meet,Thanet Conservative councillors visiting and being entertained by a corupt country that demolished thousands of homes for the Olympic games without proper compensation to the owners,supplying arms to the Darfur
conflict,Beating the Tibetans into submission,their 1 child policy not forgetting Tinamum Square .etc etc
China Gate way? AT WHAT PRICE FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS?
Did our Council leaders not know about this? of course they did.
Tory crisis? they are thick skinned
and think they are untouchable as they knew Labour Councillors will support this project and the local press is on their side.
They will sell of the family silver for short term gain and the public will meekly watch on the sidelines then vote them back on the County and on the next District elections.
China gateway, local jobs for local people, yes a crying shame it was approved.
Local Jobs for local people?
How many will jobs will go to Thanet residents?
At what cost to our green fields?
How will these be replaced for our future generation.
Minimum wage crap jobs for local people.
You are right any jobs vacant after the Chinese have taken the top jobs will be on the lower scale,acceptable for east european
workers who can live on lower wages.
What about the transport problem all the heavy lorries going though ACOL,BIRCHINGTON Etc..
How about the bus service for all employees?
The biggest beneficiaries will be the Land owners and builders...
I cannot possibly comment on who these will be ..but they are all well known.
"acceptable for east european
workers who can live on lower wages"
How so? Tescos doesnt have two sets of prices for the same goods, one set for Eastern Europeans and another for everyone else. The cost of living stays the same, regardless of nationality. Why does their being foreign make it fairer to pay them less than their due? Those jobs will also be perfectly acceptable for the locals who want a job.
East Europeans will accept lower wages because they are willing to work for minimum wage to be in work. They are usually young, well-educated, prepared to share cheap accommodation for the sake of improving their English and being able, despite the level of wages, to send money home. Mostly they know it's only for a couple of years then they return home.
Too many of our locals couldn't/wouldn't live off those wages without top-ups from the government. If you have a family to feed and clothe you're in a different mind-set to someone single.
Having said all that too many here just won't take the jobs available preferring to live on the benefits paid for by the taxpayer.
Thanet Earth say they'll take locals but no job can be 'ring-fenced' for local people and the work needs to be done by someone so why not bring in outsiders?
James,
Somerfields(now owned by the co-op)
charge the residents of Westgate for more their products then they do in their other shops...
Compare how much they charge say in Acol/Manston and Birchington shops to Westgate.
Compare how much goods are sold in say Poland to this country..
Thats one of the reasons Eastern European workers will accept lower wages and the fact that a small number of Brits are too lazy.
I can tell you that benefit claimants are experiencing an unusually harsh interpretation of laws this year as management pressure to cut spending here gets heavier than ever. Economic stability and law and order in the modern scheme of things relies heavily on social justice and the methods in place to insure that the poorest members of society can (a) have spending power and (b) do not become sufficiently desperate to ignore the law.
On both the Millmead and Newington estates the level of disenfranchisement is quite extreme with both having twice the national average for children in families with parents that claim out of work benefits. This is the very people that the new legislation will require the Council to re-enfranchise and offer incentives to to vote - currently it seems that the outworking of "whatever goes on higher up the chain of command" is that the most vulnerable in Thanet are paying the highest cost for this budget shortfall.
I have been saying that such a thing exists for three years now and each year it seems that benefits is where it is felt most readily.
I have also witnessed the council taking court action against debtos in such a way that allows them to force the issue through the courts more by stealth than communication while appearing to be legal. I alleged that were the funds available to challenge the magistrates hearings for 2007 to 2008 (and possibly before) as many as 75% would be overturned by a competent yet disinterested judge because where case law applies the council would be found to be in the wrong and yet year on year poor people are the ones that suffer because they can not afford to challenge the councils ever more blatant abuse of due process.
I have been watching the council tax collections and the benefits sections these last few years and I am deeply unimpressed. The people that work on the front seem, of themselves, to be doing their job so it begs the question - at what level of management is this problem starting?
I am inclined to believe that it is somewhere at or above where these two departments share management - and that points the finger at the elected leadership and the financial (mis)management there.
I am sure that we could find blame in all parties but what interests me (as a voter) is the solutions that must now be forthcoming.
James, it's not fairer to pay them less than their due. Just more profitable.
31 October, 2008 15:38
When a builder and developer sits as vice chair of planning is there any hope of objectivity!
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