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Newbury Town Council precept |
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Mar 16 2013, 11:32 AM
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QUOTE (NWNREADER @ Mar 16 2013, 11:29 AM) End user pays more Not only the end user, but everybody, which is the point I was making.
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Mar 16 2013, 11:38 AM
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QUOTE (JeffG @ Mar 16 2013, 11:22 AM) The post about the the market cleansing contract reminded me I was going to ask the following.
In the NTC leaflet that came with the Council Tax bill, there is £4.03 in the precept for the Newbury Neighbourhood Warden Scheme. I was under the impression that this was a service provided by Sovereign for the benefit of Housing Association tenants, so why is it a general tax? I believe that the Neighbourhood Wardens also patrol other non-Sovereign areas - they certainly patrol Stuart Road in Wash Common where I live. My neighbour David Fenn is a town councillor so you could always mail him and see why he thinks quiet middle-class neighbourhoods need tax-payer-funded patrols. NTC use £54,500 of the precept to fund the Neighbourhood Wardens; they give £53,000 to Sovereign Housing Association, add £500 to administer the transfer, and it costs us another £1,000 in back-office and administration overhead costs.
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Right an injustice - give Simon Kirby his allotment back!
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Mar 16 2013, 11:53 AM
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QUOTE (JeffG @ Mar 16 2013, 11:46 AM) What are they anyway? Some vigilante quasi-police force? Who NTC? Yes, I suppose they are really.
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Right an injustice - give Simon Kirby his allotment back!
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Mar 16 2013, 01:56 PM
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QUOTE (Andy Capp @ Mar 16 2013, 11:48 AM) I thought Neighbourhood Wardens were a way of trying to make people feel a little more secure, and for them to be the eye's and ears of the neighbourhood, the eyes and ears once occupied by milkmen, the police, and the posties who now have to jog round their round. So how does that differ from the rôle of the PCSO? Some overlap there, surely?
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Mar 16 2013, 02:26 PM
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QUOTE (JeffG @ Mar 16 2013, 11:46 AM) What are they anyway? Some vigilante quasi-police force? Don't know I have yet to see one! PCSO's have not made any difference to vandalism, ASBO and such so why do the council think Wardens are able to assist?
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Vexatious Candidate?
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Mar 16 2013, 02:36 PM
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So, keeping Her Majesty's peace we have
Police Constables (the office of constable swears allegiance to the crown) Police Community Support Officers Community Wardens Traffic Wardens (or whatever they call themselves these days) supplemented by Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators Private Security Guards (Tesco, Sainsbury, Kennet Centre, etc. etc)
And the Postman, Meter Reader, Refuse Collector, Sovereign maintenance crews etc. etc. who still all call. Do feel more secure? Angry, yes, ripped off, yes, powerless, yes, less secure? NO.
What do all these people actually do all day?
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Know your place!
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Mar 16 2013, 02:43 PM
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QUOTE (On the edge @ Mar 16 2013, 02:36 PM) So, keeping Her Majesty's peace we have
Police Constables (the office of constable swears allegiance to the crown) Police Community Support Officers Community Wardens Traffic Wardens (or whatever they call themselves these days) supplemented by Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators Private Security Guards (Tesco, Sainsbury, Kennet Centre, etc. etc)
And the Postman, Meter Reader, Refuse Collector, Sovereign maintenance crews etc. etc. who still all call. Do feel more secure? Angry, yes, ripped off, yes, powerless, yes, less secure? NO.
What do all these people actually[b] do all day?[/b] It makes larger Empires! Plus of course it helps keeps the unemployed numbers look good?
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Vexatious Candidate?
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Mar 17 2013, 09:42 PM
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QUOTE (JeffG @ Mar 16 2013, 11:22 AM) The post about the the market cleansing contract reminded me I was going to ask the following.
In the NTC leaflet that came with the Council Tax bill, there is £4.03 in the precept for the Newbury Neighbourhood Warden Scheme. I was under the impression that this was a service provided by Sovereign for the benefit of Housing Association tenants, so why is it a general tax? Here's a full breakdown of where all the precept goes. CODE Revenue Running Costs Staff Costs Gross Service Cost Net Service Cost Market £ 31,900 £ 36,212 £ 20,539 £ 94,633 £ 62,733 Floral Displays £ 2,250 £ 22,763 £ 13,906 £ 62,319 £ 60,069 Christmas Lights £ 25,000 £ 2,907 £ 33,271 £ 33,271 Cemeteries £ 40,000 £ 92,660 £ 29,601 £ 176,858 £ 136,858 Administration £ 70,635 £123,125 Parks and Open Spaces £ 5,948 £212,283 £ 60,384 £ 384,039 £ 378,091 Allotments £ 19,570 £ 25,054 £ 35,048 £ 124,746 £ 105,176 Town Hall £ 33,100 £ 51,650 £ 69,160 Civic Duties £ 19,275 £ 36,939 Committee £ 9,113 £ 6,435 £ 27,418 £ 27,418 WBC Toilets £ 19,483 £ 185 £ 20,010 £ 20,010 Neighbourhood Wardens £ 53,000 £ 556 £ 54,583 £ 54,583 Young People's Council £ 2,000 £ 3,714 Clocks and Grit Bins £ 21,000 £ 20,330 £ 78,826 £ 78,826 Grants £ 39,337 £ 0 £ 39,336 £ 39,336 Election Expenses £ 6,800 £ 110 Flood Alleviation £ 9,000 £ 36 £ 9,104 £ 9,104 Total £132,768 £715,265 £422,984 £1,105,149 £1,005,481 Blackdog mentioned the difficulty of understanding the need for such a large staff, and this breakdown illustrates that - the council don't directly publish these data so they don't particularly want you to know. Nearly £70k of staff costs allocated to the town hall is really peculiar, and around £30k of staffing for the cemeteries is also unexplained when you understand that the cemeteries are not maintained by direct labour. £35k to staff the allotment service is just ridiculous when the town has six sites, because as I've mentioned before that's basically the same level of staffing that Birmingham City Council has and they have the largest number of sites of any municipality at 115. £37k of staffing just to manage the civic duties is just grotesque.
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Right an injustice - give Simon Kirby his allotment back!
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Mar 18 2013, 07:42 AM
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QUOTE (blackdog @ Mar 18 2013, 12:00 AM) What is this 'gross service cost' column? Your way of adding £60k to the cost of running the allotments? Why do you have to be facetious? The gross service cost includes all of the costs of providing the service without any of the revenue. So the Gross Service Cost head is the sum of the service team staff costs, the running costs, and the back-office administrative staff and overheads - it's not my idea, it's how a business would reckon their costs to see if they were turning a profit or not. The Net Service Cost gives you the true cost of the various services.
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Right an injustice - give Simon Kirby his allotment back!
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Mar 18 2013, 10:01 AM
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QUOTE (Simon Kirby @ Mar 18 2013, 07:42 AM) Why do you have to be facetious?
The gross service cost includes all of the costs of providing the service without any of the revenue. So the Gross Service Cost head is the sum of the service team staff costs, the running costs, and the back-office administrative staff and overheads - it's not my idea, it's how a business would reckon their costs to see if they were turning a profit or not. The Net Service Cost gives you the true cost of the various services. So.... To my simple mind the Gross figure should be the sum of the running costs and staff costs, and the nett figure should be that less any revenue? Otherwise there is double counting of admin?
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