| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Proposed closure of Wandsworth Museum | |
| Posted by: | Tony Belton | |
| Date/Time: | 25/01/07 17:56:00 |
| The Council's Standing Orders say that papers have to be available 5 working days before the relevant Committee, though in practise that is often abused with the Chair/Mayor declaring that he considers the paper to be a matter of urgency under section x of some local government act. I would expect the paper early next week. I would like to get back to the question of money and the Council's attempt to blame anyone else, preferably the Government, for their problems. The Director of Finance calculates that over the last 3 years inflation has cost £25.54 million; he says that Government funding through the Revenue Support Grant has paid for £22.121 million (or 86.7%). This compares with the 78% of Council expenditure already funded by Government. In other words the Council is demanding that the Government should meet a larger and larger percentage of its expenditure at the same time as it freezes Council Tax, which it has done for the last 3 years. So, the Council freezes Council Tax, which of course is a real terms cut (actually of 11% in those three years) and asks Gordon to pay the totality of inflation. He already has the best inflation record of any Chancellor on record, including this year's increase. This is simply financial irresponsibility in not maintaining a reasonable Council tax base and risking all our services as a consequence. |