Wasteful councillors should do the decent thing (From Crewe Guardian)

Wasteful Cheshire East councillors should do the decent thing

12:07pm Monday 14th November 2011 in Letters

FEWER than half the Cheshire East councillors turned up on Friday to a briefing on how badly the administration had ruined their financial affairs. It was predicted that the council would overspend its budget by £16,000,000 by the end of the year.

That is sheer bad and incompetent management. They set their own budget and they cannot even keep to it.

They are already £135,000,000 in debt which costs £6,000,000 each year in interest.

Yet even more borrowing was suggested by the portfolio holder Cllr M Jones. This is the slippery slope chosen by Greece.

These Epicureans say “Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die” or “spend spend spend and to blazes with tomorrow”.

We all know where that led them.

Their leader has had the good grace to resign and I think the leader of Cheshire East should follow his example.

At least we should call him ‘Papa’ Wesley after the late unlamented Greek prime minister. If the cap Fitz Gerald wear it!

The fault lies with most of the cabinet. £11,000,000 of promised savings have not been delivered.

Once again social services are overspent by £8,000,000 even with the extra £10,000,000 they were given more than last year, when again they overspent. The Places directorate are overspent by £3,500,000, Extra wages of £1,800,000 were given away across the council to harmonise the schemes of the previous four councils.

A similar sum was also overspent on computing.

Shared services and a failure to meet buying savings make up the rest of the 16,000,000 overspend. Failure in nearly every area – what a disastrous performance.

Their answer is to borrow more to spend more of your money!

This is a thoroughly incompetent administration and it is only going to get us all into a lot worse trouble in the future.

They have 125 proposals to spend more and only 25 to save.

This made a total increase in cost of £20,000,000!

Even Cllr Jones said he was bitterly disappointed.

Finally, even though their Tory Government has offered them extra grant worth several million, they suggested throwing this away and hiking up your council tax by at least £20 per band D house instead. A policy which no other county or unitary county council is even contemplating. So YOU pay the bill for their incredibly bad management. It beggars belief but its horribly true.

Unless they resign, you will have to go on picking up the bill for their inane stupidity for the next three years.

David Brickhill Independent Borough Councillor for Shavington