H.B.C. Council Tax/savings.

garinda · 04-03-2010, 07:59

H.B.C. have announced the next Council Tax will be frozen, and identified some ways to save money, including...

'£14,000 by buying fewer copies of the Lancashire Evening Post'
ConservativeHome's Local Government Blog: Hyndburn freezes Council Tax

Fourteen grand spent on what's basically a local paper...in Preston!

Like our own area's Lancashire Telegraph, it has a website, which is totally free to access.

How many copies of the Lancashire Evening Post can be bought with £14,000. in a year?

What are they doing, insulating the roof at Scaitcliffe House with it?

If they're spending this amount of our money on non-local newspapers, finding other daft things to save a million quid on should be a breeze.

lancsdave · 04-03-2010, 08:21

£14.000 by buying fewer copies, makes you wonder what the total spend is.

Benipete · 04-03-2010, 08:24

One such council( can't remember which one) has decided to axe It's £30-000-00 biscuit bill.

Poor do when a man can't have a biccy!

garinda · 04-03-2010, 08:24

I can't find how much a copy of the Lancashire Evening Post costs.

Anyone in Preston know, then we can work out just how many copies fourteen grand buys?

Ken Moss · 04-03-2010, 08:54

I'm fairly sure it's 52p a copy which works out at 26,923 copies of the paper.

I used to work for LCC and one of the councillors at the time, Nora Ward, used to go mental if her paper wasn't hand delivered to her office as soon as it came to reception. I don't know where she is now but I hope she is as unhappy as the poor staff working for her, she was an awful woman.

Before I became self-employed, it was always common practice wherever I worked to take your own biscuits and buy your own paper. Everyone also had to pay tea and coffee subs each week to cover the cost of drinks.

I personally don't see why it should be any different for council offices.

Ken Moss · 04-03-2010, 09:07

A tax freeze isn't quite as good as it might sound, either.

There's precious little money to go around as it is and large chunks of what remains tend to be directed towards one particular area which means that the smaller wards stand even less chance of getting improvements this year.

Cutbacks to save money and freeze taxes have affected Rishton residents quite badly. We have lost our social and youth office in the past month and several of the services at the specialist clinic have been moved to a church hall in Great Harwood.

It isn't going down well with the residents, particularly the less-mobile ones.

Neil · 04-03-2010, 09:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

Everyone also had to pay tea and coffee subs each week to cover the cost of drinks.

I personally don't see why it should be any different for council offices.

I agree, only time it should be provided is when there are meetings with visitors present.

I don't want them charging me for my coffee when I am in for meetings

garinda · 04-03-2010, 09:43

Thank you Ken.

If the Lancashire Evening Post costs 52 pence per copy, and assuming it's published six days per week, that means Hyndburn Borough Council is buying 26,923 papers a year, which over the six day's it's published is 86 copies per day...of a non-local newspaper!

Where the hell are they going, and who is reading them?

Considering there is no recycling of trade waste in Hyndburn, which H.B.C.'s refuge is classed as, where do they end up?

As well as being an outrageous waste of money, it looks like H.B.C. is producing it's own paper mountain.

MargaretR · 04-03-2010, 09:43

When I worked at DHSS we had ONE local paper a day delivered so that the job section could be perused during those 'helping find work' interviews. Workers paid for their own refreshments, but visiting VIP guests were 'refreshed' at public expense.

This gravy train of perks appears to be at local government level only, and appears to be instigated by councillors.

garinda · 04-03-2010, 09:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

A tax freeze isn't quite as good as it might sound, either.

Happily for politicans the financial year always comes but a short time before the May elections.

Handy that.

lancsdave · 04-03-2010, 09:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

that means Hyndburn Borough Council is buying 26,923 papers a year,

Thats actually how many fewer it's going to buy

. The top of Ormerod St used to be level with the bottom of it, until the paper boy arrrived at Scaitcliffe House

garinda · 04-03-2010, 09:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Thats actually how many fewer it's going to buy

. The top of Ormerod St used to be level with the bottom of it, until the paper boy arrrived at Scaitcliffe House

Hell's teeth, it's no wonder Britcliffe used his Observer column to thank his paper boy for managing to get through the snow, and safely deliver his newspapers.

The little lad probably drives a juggernaut!

garinda · 04-03-2010, 09:57

By the way, thank you to the Conservative Home website, for providing this up to the minute report, and associated figures and quotes, as the local press haven't yet published the story online.

The council leader Cllr Peter Britcliffe said before the meeting:

“Just in the next financial year we must make £1 million of savings and I am calling on all councillors and staff to unite and come forward with ideas to cut costs and keep council tax low.
“Over the next four weeks it is vital that we all join together to find the cost reductions that the people of Hyndburn need.”

Ken Moss · 04-03-2010, 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

Thank you Ken.

If the Lancashire Evening Post costs 52 pence per copy, and assuming it's published six days per week, that means Hyndburn Borough Council is buying 26,923 papers a year, which over the six day's it's published is 86 copies per day...of a non-local newspaper!

Where the hell are they going, and who is reading them?

Considering there is no recycling of trade waste in Hyndburn, which H.B.C.'s refuge is classed as, where do they end up?

As well as being an outrageous waste of money, it looks like H.B.C. is producing it's own paper mountain.

It's a very good point and another thing worth considering as most offices now have paper recycling bins on every floor. Why should the council, of all places, be exempt from that too?

News-wise, there is little of relevance to Hyndburn in the LEP and in all honesty it barely stretches to include Chorley, let alone Blackburn and beyond. It's very much on a par with the Lancashire Telegraph in terms of style so buying that would be the better option, assuming they don't already. I'd rather have seen £14k of Hyndburn money ploughed back into a Hyndburn business than a Preston one.

Finding £1m of savings shouldn't be too difficult but I feel fairly sure that the same paranoia is endemic at HBC as in other councils, namely that if they make savings this year they won't be allowed the same money next year. I am reliably informed that this is less the case than it used to be but from experience I know that plenty of civil servants are house-trained to be bureaucratic empire builders and reluctant to let go of something once they have it.

It's appalling cynicism on my part but having watched it happen I know that reduction of funding is the mark of absolute failure within the civil service.

MargaretR · 04-03-2010, 11:30

Oi !!! -as an ex civil servant I take exception to that.
It is not the civil service we discuss here - it is local government service
...a whole different ball game I can assure you

PS I once controlled the annual budget for running costs at Melbourne House and we were very strict - eg. permission had to be sought for any personal phone calls - even local ones.

PPS If you wonder how that worked - I examined the itemised bills in great detail and the staff knew it. (Offenders were warned), and phone card application forms were issued to all staff so that they could charge against their home phone