The report on the County Press website today pretty much tells us all we need to know about the state of local Liberals:
"SENIOR Liberal Democrats on the Isle of Wight have said they would not raise council tax to protect the 205 jobs under threat at County Hall.
Last week, the County Press reported how LibDem group leader Cllr Garry Price said he would consider putting council tax up by a few pence if it meant the jobs could be saved.
He said it would be his preferred solution to plugging the council’s £8m budget black hole, which has put hundreds of jobs under threat.
However, Lib Dems have now agreed a policy which would rule out any council tax increases. Instead, they would look at cutting consultants, the communications budget and the cost of directors.
(The) Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate said Cllr Price's remarks were more to do with the party’s concern about unemployment on the Isle of Wight."
It will be interesting to see if they come up with an alternative budget this year that tells us exactly how they would fill the Tory black hole.......work on our's continues and it will not lead to an above pension-inflation increase.
9 comments:
Easy to make promises when you're not responsible Geoff, these Liberals are all over the place. As for Jill Wareham, most islanders will remember only too well the outrageous increases in council tax year after year when she was running the council. With her lot here and your lot in London the island was bound to go bankrupt.
You wont like it, but like all councils this one is overmanned. It could probably lose 500 jobs without flinching. Let's face it, the number of people working in 'communications' at County Hall is an embarassment.
Who can afford an increase in council tax? No-one I know.
It's a shame council staff face the chop but that's the world your Labour party have helped create Mr Lumley. The country is bankrupt and borrowing untold billions. Services must be cut. You can't spend it if you haven't got it. A fact that your party never seems able to grasp.
Yes, there are a lot in communications but most of them have been hired by this present lot, not the previous council! And as for the previous increases, well at least that left us monies in the reserves. For all Mr Sutton claiming Tories will lower your council tax, here in Ryde, mine has risen each year by much more than inflation thanks to this new town precept. And in a couple of weeks, will the increase be one of the lowest in the Country?
I would doubt it.
The old council had a just one press officer (George I think, an ex Cp man?) and his Deputy. Mind you they were terrible at PR but rarely had any good news.
This lot have employed an army and the bosses are on a contract with Westminster Council. This alone must cost a fortune.
I keep hearing about the 'Reserves'. Reserves are a given percentage of the councils running cost; not stashes of millions that are just sat there. What is there are 'Accumulations'!!! Why weren't the 'Accumulations' spent on new toilets, better cleaning etc etc. Instead the Lib Dems just kept cutting the cleaning budgets year after year. At least we now have some new ones, and the old ones are at least clean! 'Accumulations' are our money. They should be spent on providing services for us, not slush funds for the council! As for the comment about high Ryde Precept, a Lib Dem dominated town council is it?? Just as well you voted against having a Ryde Town Council - or perhaps you didn't?
Councils that completely run down their reserves have no protection in the event of emergencies: one remembers Liverpool City Council some years ago, reduced to setting an illegal rate and hoping they'd be bailed out. But I agree with Billy Pitt; I'd rather see reserves spent than a further increase in Council Tax which many of us can't sustain.
I'm as concerned about unemployment on the island as anyone, but councils aren't supposed to be giant job-creation schemes. We're paying too much in the top salaries, and way too much to consultants - not surprisingly, because what consultants do is go from authority to authority, bidding up the salaries at the highest levels so we get the "best people". Their idea of the best people would make a cat laugh. Make what cuts can be made in these areas first, but if there need to be job losses lower down they will have to be countenanced. Nearly twenty years ago, I became chairman of a housing association built on the Medina Borough's stock, and staffed by their people. Frankly, it wasn't hard to spot the dead wood, and I don't believe it would be hard to cut it out at IWC either. Actually, I know it wouldn't: I've seen some of County Hall's managers in action...
Last comment removed as it was anonymous and offensive - and potentially actionable.
And he's got form. Remember Island Eye?
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