Friday, May 21, 2010

How can £3 million for a car park in Huntingdon?

How can a Council which needs to save £6.1 million over 4 years to balance the budget deficit can spend £3 million on a multi-story? That is easy, they won't. The £3 million will be borrowed from the Government at low interest rates and for say 40 years. This means the capital repayment of the loan and interest on the £3 million will be roughly £200,000 a year.

Therefore the cost to HDC is roughly £200,000 a year which does need to be found from the current budget. This money has already been accounted for with the Medium Term Plan and is part of the £6.1 million that needs to be cut. The more that is borrowed - the more needs to be cut in services. 

Now Ian Bates (Leader of HDC) is saying that after Huntingdon Town Centre the next project will be St Neots. If we even get that far, this will have to be achieved by more loans. This will mean more services will have to be cut to pay for all this. 

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