At Thursday's Scrutiny Committee we had more details on the depletion of the Council's Reserves. Last December I reported that the Tories had plundered them so far this year to the tune of £8m. On Thursday we learnt that by the end of March they will actually have been reduced by £15m to pay for things like the Undercliff enquiry and what I called 'propping up services'.
On top of this it looks like the Tories plan to reduce them by a further £10m over the next 3 years to balance their Budget books - despite another generous grant settlement from Government.
So in the space of this Council, by May 2009 Reserves will have reduced from nearly £40m to less than £20m. No wonder they want empty land and properties that they can then sell off.
Scrutiny otherwise was OK. No public present, but a good session on the coming year's Budget, and approval of an excellent report on Waste Management and Recycling.
The Tories committee members were a little more contributory this time after my criticisms in December, with only half their membership making no contribution this time !
2 comments:
I think I suggested this on 8 Dec. Informed leaks suggest it will get worse!
The school closures will net them £50 - 100 million. Looks like we're in for lower council tax?
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