At tonight’s full council meeting we were told that government grant to the district council will be cut from ?5.1 million this year to ?3.6 million next year….
At tonight’s full council meeting we were told that government grant to the district council will be cut from ?5.1 million this year to ?3.6 million next year….
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It’s not quite as bad as it first appeared – because bus passes (costing around 600k per year) are now going to be dealt with by the county council…
What is the over all budget? Who will be tasked with making the savings? Will all Councillors have a say?
Angelina, I’ll get a figure on the overall budget for you.
So far there have been three unofficial , private and confidential meetings of councillors to discuss savings and there will be another meeting after Xmas. All councillors are invited, some don’t come, some come and say little, some come and say a lot and a few do some research beforehand.
The ultimate decisions will be made at Full Council in the New Year.
We can’t write much now whilst things are confidential but you can bet we’ll be covering things in depth when we can.
Thank you for your answer. I am sure that none of you want to have to do this. I wish you all the best in making the best choices under the circumstances.
I am reassured that all councillors will get a chance to put forward their proposals for both reasons of democracy and accountability.
Will councillors wages/expenses be slashed in the same manner??? Or is this a cheap shot?!
Carole, no it isn’t a cheap shot.
The current allowances scheme for councillors can be found at
http://cmis.rochford.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=17229.
You will see that the basic allowance for councillors on Rochford District is £4250. You get that even if you have a poor attendance record at meetings (minimum is one meeting every 6 months)
Many councillors get more – for example I get an extra £2125 for leading the opposition group. Terry Cutmore gets an extra £21250 for being leader of the whole council.
In past decades allowances were much much lower . Back in ’92 the council had financial problems and I was chairman of the policy and resources committee. I persuaded the council to cut allowances by 10 percent. The new figures were a basic of £706.80 for all councillors and you got an extra £591 if you were a group leader.
Allowances have soared since then following a prevailing philosophy that you have to pay lots of money to get good councillors, something that I find not to be true.
Moreover, the cabinet system smooths things for people in power but at a cost to genuine democracy and proper analysis by councillors. Scrapping the cabinet would save a substantial amount of money and in my (possibly biased opinion) actually improve the council.
I can’t say whether the council is going to cut members allowances. What I do know is that if council staff , members of the public and local bodies are all hurt by the cuts and councillors leave themselves totally unscathed, it will leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
For those who are interested in the detail there is a link below.
MEMBER BRIEFING – 2011/12 grant announcement
The following information is provided so that Members can respond to enquiries from
residents about the recent grant settlement and its likely impact on Rochford District Council.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1063718/Member_briefing.pdf
In case readers don’t want to read the full Document above here are some highlights.
Quoting from the Members Briefing “Approximately £600,000 of new savings/income has already been identified…………..Now that the Grant announcement has been made, Members are working on their plans for delivering the remaining £800,000.”
Percentage Reduction in Grant for 2011/2 is 16.53% and 2012/3 is 9.69%.
“The current results of the Budget Survey were shared at the (Members) Budget Forum on 15 December, included responses by age, and are not P&C.”
“However, the top priority areas (presumed to be services to retain uncut)have consistently been:
Tackling ASB
Waste & Recycling
Street Cleaning
Public & Environmental Health
Areas identified for reducing spend are:
Sports, Culture, Leisure
Car Parks
Parks & Open Spaces ”
The full briefing to Members on the Budget Survey is below (which is not in P&C).
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1063718/budgetsurvey.jpg
So my priority will be to investigate cuts in the areas that residents would wish to see them made. I have asked The Head of Finance to look at my own short list and let me know before the next P&C Member Forum on 15 January.
Whoops !! The snow hits again !! Rochford District Matters, the Council newspaper, only got delivered to Hawkwell today, 22 December, containing the Budget (Cuts) Survey, with a closing date for residents of 17 December. If this happened across the District then this explains the low number of respondents which was commented upon by Members at the meeting on 15 December. I recall just 275 being mentioned.
I don’t know how often ‘Rochford District Matters’ is distributed but as far as I can recall the last copy we received in Rawreth Lane was probably March 2010 when the council tax information became available. I have received no information at all on refuse collection dates etc. since 2009.