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Newbury Today Forum _ Newbury News _ Council Tax Budget

Posted by: Gwocky Jun 1 2009, 01:38 PM

So once again West Berkshire Council have mis managed their budget and once again it is the hard working residents of the region that end up paying for the mistakes.
It is the white van man that gets up at 5 o' clock every morning to go to work, its the single parents that forsake time with their young children to go to work to pay the bills, its the shop workers with their extra part time jobs struggling to make ends meet and our undervalued policemen, firemen and nurses who are all working harder than ever in very difficult economic circiumstances only to have it taken away to pay for the constant catalogue of errors generated by our local authority.
As residents we deserve better than this. It is time that the Council employed people that are capable of doing the job they are paid to do.
Year upon year the Council Tax increases have been far in excess of inflation yet the services provided to the hard working residents are getting lesser and worse. When is this gross mis management of public funds going to stop and when are the people responsible going to be held accountable?
Please let it be sooner than later.

Posted by: JeffG Jun 2 2009, 08:56 AM

QUOTE (Gwocky @ Jun 1 2009, 02:38 PM)

When is this gross mis management of public funds going to stop and when are the people responsible going to be held accountable?
Please let it be sooner than later.

I think the problem is that the other lot are just as bad at wasting our money. Remember the "Newbury vision"?

Posted by: Richard Head Jun 2 2009, 08:23 PM

QUOTE (Gwocky @ Jun 1 2009, 02:38 PM)

As residents we deserve better than this. It is time that the Council employed people that are capable of doing the job they are paid to do.

Year upon year the Council Tax increases have been far in excess of inflation yet the services provided to the hard working residents are getting lesser and worse. When is this gross mis management of public funds going to stop and when are the people responsible going to be held accountable?

Perhaps you should apply for a job there or even better still stand for office in the Local Elections in 2011?

Posted by: blackdog Jun 5 2009, 08:06 AM

QUOTE (Gwocky @ Jun 1 2009, 02:38 PM)

When is this gross mis management of public funds going to stop and when are the people responsible going to be held accountable?
Please let it be sooner than later.

What we need is more visibility of who are actually responsible - for a start you could ask the Department for Communities and Local Government why, in a year when they raised the local government Revenue Support Grants by an average of 4.2% (a bit above inflation), West Berks only got a 1.75% rise (well below inflation)? Leaving a large chunk of inflationary increase to be funded from the Council Tax.