Topic
Topic ID 6341
03/01/2012 by Enoughofthat
East Herts Budget Cuts
From Twitter
EastHerts East Herts Council
BUDGET CONSULTATION BEGINS - show us how you would cut £250,000 off our budget at budgetsimulator.com/eastherts - open until January 20.
http://www.budgetsimulator.com/eastherts
Welcome to East Herts Council's Budget Simulator. Due to the current economic climate the Council is faced with some difficult decisions in setting its budget. Cuts in government grants as well as low levels of interest rates mean that the council will have to make savings of £257,805.
We’ve found some areas to make savings which we believe are the ‘least-worst’ options. We hope you agree but in case you don’t, we’ve had to include some options which we feel are less palatable, but would have to be considered if you don’t like the others. To make it clear which ones are which, we’ve highlighted the less palatable ones as you go through as ‘currently discounted options’.
I notice that no option to consider cuts in councilors expenses is offered.
In order to make a fully informed contribution to the process, can anyone provide a link to detailed figures for the whole of East Herts Council accounts?
Replies
Reply ID 85310
03/01/2012 by Enoughofthat
Thanks Steve.
Do you also know of a link to the proposed budget for the coming period?
Reply ID 85311
03/01/2012 by Leo Densian
quote:
Originally posted by Enoughofthat
EastHerts East Herts Council
BUDGET CONSULTATION BEGINS - show us how you would cut £250,000 off our budget at budgetsimulator.com/eastherts - open until January 20.
1) Stop paying the services of web-developers to come up with bullshit questionnaires with no financial references. Cut/Increase x% of what?
2) If it only takes 20 minutes to do a budget (says the survey) why are we paying a chief exec £150k+ ?
New Year cynicism fully engaged. [:(!]
Reply ID 85313
03/01/2012 by Enoughofthat
Is this not just an exercise in patronizing the electorate?
Planning: Building Control Fees
When new buildings are constructed or extensions are added, developers must apply for building regulations approval that ensures the work has been done correctly. We’re not allowed to make a profit, but currently we’re making a loss. Increasing our fees by 4-5% would mean that the developers pay all our costs and not the council taxpayer.
Should we increase the fees so that those using the service are paying for it?
It seems patently obvious to me but perhaps I am missing something.What is the case for not charging the appropriate fee?
Reply ID 85315
03/01/2012 by Drama Queen
I would have thought pruning from the top of the Council downwards in staffing levels would reach that £250K very quickly, with hardly any loss of staff at all!
Reply ID 85317
03/01/2012 by SMT
quote:
Originally posted by Enoughofthat
It seems patently obvious to me but perhaps I am missing something.What is the case for not charging the appropriate fee?
I'm a little bit behind the times, as I'm currently on maternity leave (not from EHC), but in terms of planning permissions (rather than Building Regs), the central Government legislation set the fee rates. However, this is/has changed and now local authorities are able to set their own fees but must first demonstrate justifiable costs, which is a task in itself (advertising costs, officer hours, etc) particularly as it will vary greatly between applications.
I would agree that the user/beneficiary should pay the costs, as the current planning application fees barely cover the costs of advertising the Mercury at the moment, dependent on the type of application. Yes you could move advertising onto the internet, for example, but the local authority then has to ensure it is compliant with Equal Opportunities legislation as not all have access to a computer.
Naturally, an increase in fees is normally met with resistant from anyone who has to pay in the increased charge!! Hopefully this will be adopted as a 'fair' way to tackle some of the budget shortfall.
6 replies