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CCBC costs and cutting

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DaveR:
The first inklings of cutbacks in Conwy County are starting to surface. Naturally, there's no mention of cutting the legions of overpaid managers in Bodlondeb...

The last sentence is also hilarious.  Go, Team Conwy!!!  ;D

Conwy council details extent of £11m savings - with more to come

THE SCALE of looming cutbacks is today revealed in a snapshot by one council – as it considers hiking up even the price of ice cream to claw back cash

Huge savings being planned for Conwy include upping the cost of cremations and car parking, axing school lollipop patrols and rubbish collections and cutting school budgets by £3m.

The detail being gone into is so great, proposals even include increasing the cost of buying an ice cream at Venue Cymru, where a staff shake up may also be on the cards.

The pay and display zone for parking in Llandudno will be extended as parking charges in the county also rise, under proposals to be put to councillors on Monday.

A crackdown on fraud over single person council tax discounts aims to save £150,000 next year, with rises also proposed in allotment, and mooring charges.

Schools spending could be cut by £3.39m or 6%, while social services is in line for a £2.21m cut or 5%.

But that is just the half of it.

Savings set out so far in a report to be considered by councillors next week only reach £11m –  of the full £21m savings needed.

Finance officers warn that even the three waves of spending curbs already drawn up still fall £10m short of the savings target set in Conwy by 2013-14, with a Wave 4 still needed - which will involve “tough decisions”.

Councils across Wales are examining their budgets in the aftermath of the UK Government’s comprehensive spending review.

The Welsh Assembly Government will set out its spending plans next month, including the revenue support settlement for councils which accounts for almost 80% of local authority income.

Andrew Kirkham, acting corporate director and head of finance for Conwy, says in the report that the accumulated savings anticipated over the next three financial years is £21.89m or 12% of this year’s base budget.

Seeking approval by councillors for the ‘Wave 3’ of spending cuts proposed for the authority, he says they would reduce the budget shortfall to £10.06m.

“Heads of service and services generally have been asked to build on their work and develop even more options through a ‘wave 4’ exercise.

“It is the intention that this should bring in to the democratic consideration initiatives that go beyond ‘traditional thinking’, hence the next exercise is likely to produce areas of savings that will require ‘difficult decisions’ in addition to the more ‘acceptable’ savings.”

Officials were working hard to identify further savings to attempt to minimise the cuts and therefore the difficult decisions that will need to be taken during challenging times for the public sector generally and Conwy specifically, he said.

“Members will be acutely aware that the need to achieve significant savings comes at a time when many services are seeing the demand for services increasing, notably care for the elderly and children’s services.”

“Moreover Local Government will not enter this period of cuts from as well funded a starting point as the NHS, which has had far steeper rises in revenue funding in recent years,” he said.

Conwy council’s cabinet will consider the measure next week.

Mr Kirkham said: “What is becoming clear even now is that in addition to the anticipated cut to the Revenue Support Grant which currently represents 78% of our resource base, Local Government is also going to see reductions in specific grants that support local government services.

“We still have a long way to go to identify the level of savings that will close the anticipated financial gap, but it is fair to say that the ‘Team Conwy’ spirit has already produced a significant response to the financial challenges ahead.”

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2010/10/30/conwy-council-details-extent-of-11m-savings-with-more-to-come-55578-27569831/

DaveR:
Whilst on the subject of cutbacks, I was reading Cllr Mike Priestley's blog, in which he mentioned sponsorship as a possible means of raising revenue for the Council. Given that the public are very keen to pay for things such as memorial benches for loved ones in public parks, I have taken the idea a stage further and put forward this idea to Cllr Priestley:

"You raise the issue of sponsorship - why is more use not made of this? I'm not just talking about businesses here, private individuals (maybe as a tribute to a loved one) could also particpate.

How about a section on the CCBC website, that list various areas in the County where work is required - could be the cost of planting out a flowerbed, planting of a tree, installing a new Shelter or even a general contribution towards a specific park.

Each item has a cost attached to do the work, and businesses/individuals can then contribute the cost of that work in return for being acknowledged as the benefactor, both on the CCBC website and via a small plaque at the site.

I honestly think its a great idea, so why don't we do it? This could be a fantastic source of income to offset the coming cuts."

Let's see what his reply is...  ;)

His blog: http://mikepriestley.blogspot.com/2010/10/rhs.html

Fester:
Extending and increasing parking charges is a real cop out.

It has nothing to do with cutting back costs, instead it is another disgraceful and greedy swipe at tourism.
The ability of The Three Towns to be credible and preferred shopping destinations is also compromised by this.
It is yet another TAX increase, when the tax burden is becoming unbearable...

I think an external and independant body (such as business consultants) should dictate what the cuts should be.
Thats the real world, and 'Team Conwy' would have sleepless nights during this process..and rightly so.
This would lead to a real clearout of 'dead-wood' middle and senior managers ....plus a sell off of many of the illogical property assets that the Council own.

So much can be done internally at CCBC, without resorting to extorting MORE money from US .... they are being dishonest.


 

Fester:
Well,  Its started!

The Coalition Government have announced that the core funding for councils will FALL by an average of 9.9% next year.... and by further amounts in the next three years  Until a total of 28% is reached.

The Labour Party have called it devastating.   I think its fantastic.

Because along with it, they have announced that the public will have THE RIGHT to buy businesses owned by the council.  That includes Shops, Pubs and Libraries.
Given that CCBC owns a great many such businesses, I can't wait to wrestle a few of them away from them.

Why does the council need to own pubs????

DaveR:
It's a fair point. For example, CCBC own the Freehold of the Aberconwy Caravan Park on the Morfa in Conwy, which is valued at £1.7m - why not sell it? The Rhos Fynach pub in Rhos On Sea - why not sell it?

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/18413/response/50145/attach/html/2/FOI%20880%2009%20Non%20County%20Occupied%20Assets.xls.html

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