CCBC costs and cutting

[SteveH]

Council staff in Conwy could have to pay to park at work.

One councillor has asked that parking charges be considered for council office car parks at Bodlondeb and the new Coed Pella building.

The cost of implementing such a move, including providing new machines, is estimated at being £20,000, with the potential income from the change being £64,000.   cont. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/council-staff-could-pay-park-17363062

[norman08]

Is this another bright idea screw the workers while the councilors claim it on their expenses, typical Tory cabinet 😡

[SteveH]

Agreed not very bright, but the blame has to be spread a bit further, Coun. Andrew Wood who brought up the idea, is an independent, and the others.....
The current political make-up of the Council is:
Conservative: 16
Conwy First Independent Group: 13
Plaid Cymru: 8
Independent: 7
Labour: 8
Lib Dem: 4
Plaid Annibynnol: 3

[Ian]

Interesting...

[SteveH]

SOME council provided services in Conwy are under threat thanks to the authority receiving the second lowest funding in Wales from the Welsh Government.

Conwy will receive an increase of just 3.4 per cent in its funding while the average increase in Wales is 4.3 per cent.

Cllr Sam Rowlands, leader of Conwy County Borough Council, said: “We anticipate a financial deficit of £12.5m for next year due to increased pressure on our essential services, such as social care and teaching, and an increase in the cost of providing them.

“We have to have a balanced budget ready for March so we will have to cut some services and look at ways of raising income to bridge the gap. I know that all of what we do helps our residents in different ways so these decisions around cuts are not taken lightly and will be the subject of review and debate in democracy.”

He added: “I am disappointed that yet again Conwy and North Wales is not receiving its fair share of funding; four of the lowest five in the settlement are from North Wales, they are: Ynys Mon, Conwy, Flintshire and Wrexham.

“I’ll be working with the other North Wales couincil leaders to lobby for a fairer distribution of funding and to reinstate the funding floor.”

Over the next months, councillors will work towards agreeing a balanced budget for the next financial year at the start of March.   ref Pioneer

[norman08]

👏 and here we go again just like last year, this next council tax rise will be 10% /15%, the ccbc closed shop, maybe Don't take your big pay rises.maybe don't waste what cash we have.

[bigbadhenry]

Events Conwy and Venue Cymru never seem short of money.

[norman08]

Conwy events & venue are running in big debts, they are one of Ccbc problems.

[Meleri]

CCBC are looking into replacing the seating in Venue Cymru in the not too distant future. This was mentioned in the last Cabinet meeting.

[SteveH]

Householders in Conwy county face a threat of a seven per cent increase in council tax.

In addition the authority’s school budget could be cut by more than 2.6 per cent.

But these recommendations for the financial year 2020 to 2021, from the council’s finance and resources overview and scrutiny committee, have to be approved by the cabinet and then the full council in March.     cont. https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/18177805.council-taxpayers-conwy-county-face-seven-per-cent-hike/

[Bri Roberts]

CCBC are looking into replacing the seating in Venue Cymru in the not too distant future. This was mentioned in the last Cabinet meeting.

CCBC have recently replaced their gym equipment in Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction at a cost of £1.1m when I didn’t think there was much wrong with what was already in use.

[SteveH]

The tax loophole that second home owners could use - and it's got a North Wales council worried
Conwy councillors are now being urged to abandon plans to double the empty and second homes council tax levy at tomorrow's meeting because of it.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/tax-loophole-second-home-owners-17614367

[Hugo]

With all the resources that they have at their disposal the Councils should be able to overcome the problems with second homes.
In Gwynedd they have had a big problem with second home owners saying that the house is a business and not subject to domestic rates but appear not to have done anything positive about it
All that is needed is if the second home owner wants to change the status of the property from Domestic to Business then to supply the Council with the reference and address of the Tax Office that deals with their business and then that information can be passed on to the Tax Office.       It shouldn't have any affect on the genuine cases

[Meleri]

CCBC had a meeting today & discussed the Council Tax Premium on Long term empty homes & Second homes. They voted not to put it up an extra 50% but to keep it at 25% the same as last year. Reason being they feel there is a risk of the 50% rise would backfire on them & more people would 'flip' to Non-domestic rates/business rates then be exempt from paying anything. Plus the fact those people could retrospectively claim back three years back payments resulting in a loss instead of a gain to the Council. The small business rate exemption was designed to help small business on the high street not holiday homes/lets, so a loophole has appeared that needs to be closed, but no one seems to be doing anything about it. The odd thing in all this is if you wanted to change the use of a shop to a house you would have to have planning permission, but that doesn't appear to be the case the other way around.

[SteveH]

The usual article about rates needing to go up, however there are 15 comments, most very sensible below the piece.

Playgrounds, toilets, CCTV and car parks at risk as council looks to plug £12.5m shortfall
The financial burden of maintaining amenities could be passed on to town and community councils and mean larger tax bills for locals.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/playgrounds-toilets-cctv-car-parks-17563936

Three of the comments....

"Prime example small chip in Quay wall Conwy maybe a cup full of cement to repair it
Ccbc paid jennings £1200 to repair  when confronted was told its just standard practice to let jennings do the jobs as there vetted by the council"

One of three comments from "Pedro"
"Someone has commented under the PCC article that it's gone up by 42% in the past ten years. Certainly this and the previous two stand at 5, 10 and 7%, set against inflation at circa 2-2.5%. So their efficiency looks very much like its plummeting. Have they restructured using the Harvard Uni "span of control" and maximum number of management layers analyses and conclusions? It looks like Sainsbury's and Morrison's are applying these hard rules with the vigour that managers performing at an equivalent level of effectiveness to their industry peers have to.... fine to argue when you build a case for higher salaries and bonuses but difficult to live up to if you're actually less competent of a fiefdom builder. What analysis and action has been taken to reduce the number of impromptu or scheduled meetings of three or more staff. Wha is the charter, decision making autonomy and efficiency of any and all such meetings. Pare then down to workable numbers of empowered and accountable strategic and tactical implementation meetings. Remember always that managers/supervisors crest work for the workforce and seldom detract from it."

"The council should be forced to summarise accounts for all to see. From road signs to consultancy charges paid. 
It would be interesting to understand how their procurement policies work, for example do they allow tendering for all or tendering for a selected providers who may not offer the best price..
They have a nice shiny building in Colwyn Bay for example that is under utilised - I wonder how the costs for that building impacted the 12.5 million shortfall.."