06/10/2014

PASS HIM THE ABACUS,AGAIN

Up until now I have resisted the invitation to get involved with the council’s budget consultation, but seeing that over 500 residents apparently have, I thought I’d take a look at Kieran Quinn’s “open and honest way to share the issues they face and the choices they must make!”

Taking the council leader at his word, I went immediately to the council’s website to read how residents are required to ‘balance the budget.’

However, on reading the opening politically loaded paragraphs, which bang on about Government imposed cuts, it tells us again that Tameside Council will have £38m less to spend on services for local residents and businesses, on top of £104m that the council has had to cut from its budgets from previous years.

I find it interesting that the council never fails to remind us how they rely heavily on money from the Government. ‘The Council Tax we collect only pays for one third of the services we provide, they say, ‘The rest comes from the Government.’ (Which of course ultimately comes from us in taxes!)

They also can’t resist telling us that they have limited choices in how they cut spending and save or raise money. This is nonsense and is usually a prelude to the unveiling of some half-baked scheme designed to relieve us of ever greater sums of our money, usually without any form of explanation as to why they need so much of it or to account for its use. (The £291,000 they spent on Ashton’s Christmas Market springs to mind)

There is no accountability. Just look at the expenditure sheet for the month of August. 

Out of the £7.237million total invoices paid out. Perhaps someone could explain what exactly are we getting for the £3.722million paid to Inspired Spaces?

Has anyone tried to re-negotiate these long term PPI leases? – If not, why not? And if so, what savings are being made?

Then there’s the question of ‘The Hub’ at Hattersley. Why has the rent risen from £108,707 per annum, subject to the terms of the original lease, to a new figure of £226,510 per annum? - Which means that the council are now committed to paying over £6.795 million spread over the remainder of the 30 year lease instead of £3.261 million? – Whose bright idea was that? Have heads rolled? – I suspect not!

Have you noticed that whenever our career councillors warn us of the consequences of a lower budget they always provide examples of the effects of lower spending on essential services and describe any loss of revenue from the taxpayer as being a ‘cost’ to the council?  Notice also how they never provide examples where essential services are unaffected? Nor, you will find, is there ever any word in the local press telling us how their pet projects (Ashton Market) are being scaled back instead of core services?

They seem to have forgotten that providing basic services are the very reason local authorities exist.

The notion of living within their means is alien to them. You see, their priorities are always put before our priorities.

We should also not ignore how council income has increased substantially through the ever growing list of charges and fees which residents have to pay for services that we already pay taxes to provide.  Councils not only get their central government grant and collect council tax from residents; they also make a fortune in charges that far exceed the cost of administration they were supposedly designed to cover. (Parking Fines for instance)  

The total amount that councils take from residents over the course of a year far exceeds the council tax demand we receive each year.

And while we’re on the subject of council tax, let’s not forget what happened last year.

A year with no local elections. A year when our caring council totally ignored the Local Audit and Accountability Bill which required those councils who intended to increase their council tax bill over 2%, were required to hold a council tax referendum; saying that having to seek our democratic consent to increase our council tax, was ‘unneeded’ and justified their decision by putting the blame on rising in precepts.

Has anyone thought to ask why we are asked to pay an ever increasing policing precept to the council, yet all we get are restricted-power PCSOs to make up for a shortage of real police on our streets.

Contrast that with this year, with local elections held in June. We had sitting councillors trying to get re-elected prattling on about ‘democracy’ and ‘listening to the wishes of the people’.

In other words, the council should be allowed to demand what and when it likes and to hell with what residents think.

All this ‘pseudo consultation exercise’ proves to me is that second rate councils do not attract high flyers and thinkers. If this collection of overpaid ‘council officers and authoritarian jobsworths’ cannot collectively devise ways to balance the books by utilising their assets and creating extra revenue without initiating ‘dubious fines and extra charges for misdemeanour's, whilst haemorrhaging huge sums of money through poor business acumen, then it proves that in Tameside Town Hall all constructive initiatives, free thought and common sense, is not only frowned upon, but is now being actively discouraged.


And when it all goes wrong; well they can then turn round and say, well, we consulted them and that’s what the residents wanted!

7 comments:

  1. Nice article Curmudgeon. Further examples of questionable activity include giving away six plots of land to New Charter for NOTHING. This is despite the fact that leaders at Shree Ram Mandir temple and community centre, speaking through General Secretary Chandubhai Mistry said in 2013 " We looked at the Katherine House site six months ago which we understood had been vacant for seven or eight years and which no-one else was interested in. We spent £1,500 to get the
    plans drawn up."

    I do not remember how much they were prepared to pay, but it was more than "New Charter" did!

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  2. Inspired spaces. Just another way of Tameside council giving our money away to Carillion. A company who have been given more and more council services, without any regard to how much it going to cost. Someone seriously needs to do some digging to find out how TMBC can get away with giving our money to a private company without going to tender?

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  3. UKIP: For a CHANGE!.10/12/2014 9:24 pm

    Tameside Labour have got no fear because they've got no opposition.
    Look at the by-election result from Heywood and Middleton, like Tameside a supposedly Labour stitched up area.
    UKIP can change all this complacency based gross incompetence. I'll definitely be voting for them at the next opportunity.

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  4. Latest proposed sell of the lovely building that is Hyde 6th form College ,formerly Hyde County Grammar School ! The Council should rename itself Shameside if this gem of a building is to be sold ,and demolished for housing!

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  5. It would be a nice change if it was a SELL off! The standard procedure these days seems to be giving the land away for free. Given to a registered charity who don't have to pay council tax for the first six months the property is vacant

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  6. Pseudnymic Irony10/14/2014 9:13 pm

    Just like a drug addict selling family possessions TMBC will continue to sell all the assets until the family can take no more. They will then find themselves out on the streets still believing they did nothing wrong, just like the addict. Unfortunately for the family they are left with nothing but debt, ruin and shame. Unless our communities step up to the plate and turn out on election day to at least balance the democracy within our borough then I'm afraid that once again the note will read ' Sorry, there's nothing left'
    ,

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  7. British Indigenous10/15/2014 8:28 pm

    It is entirely the fault of the moromic, apathetic, self-interested electorate who either: don't vote; vote unthinkingly; vote to suit their own individual selfish interests; or increasingly, certain cultural groups who vote on a 'you scratch my back...' basis. The latter care nothing about the wider community or the nation as a whole.

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