Charities face funding crisis

The Hunts Post St Neots - 09/02/2011 digital edition

Whether we like it or not HDC is in a financial mess. Cuts are going to have to happen as reserves run out and the old way of high spending/low council tax changes to low spending/low council tax. While the charities are whining on about the cuts to their grants they don't come up with alternative to HDC budget cuts. They don't even plead for Council tax to be raised to fund their projects. The underlying problem is many of these groups are addicted to funding from HDC. Like any addict the withdrawal of supply will cause withdrawal symptoms.

The voluntary organisations have been pleading with HDC not to cuts to their sector. The HDC budget is stark and stark choices have to be made. The voluntary organisations need to look to their own resources to fundraise from the public to keep these ventures going.

Cost of CAB cuts too high!

Huntingdon and St Ives News and Crier - 05/08/2010 digital edition

A letter of Tony Hayward, former Chairman of Hunts CAB, informs readers to to why the CAB is great and helps lots of people. Great advertisement. The only thing missing is where the money will be cut elsewhere to maintain this service.

There are going to more of these campaigns as the cuts deepen. Instead of pleading for a certain service against others we seem to be getting into those that shout loudest get the money.

Your views on the budget consultation

St Neots News and Crier - 29/07/2010

In these letters section there is a general missing of the point. The reductions that could happen are massive and will cut front line services. This isn't something new. But it is something both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have been very quiet about. Hence the title of this blog.

My comments on the cuts letters are:

I Turner - St Neots - I agree with making sure we all do the consultation.

M J Sweetman - Huntingdon - A 30% cut in "top" salaries certainly won't make much difference and certainly won't raise £5 million. At best this would save £300,000. Something along this line is already being proposed in the cuts.

R Wilson - Huntingdon - Goes on about a reduction in the number of Councillors. Good idea but won't save much. It will also mean a redrawing of ward boundaries which will cost more than the savings!

M Knight - Huntingdon - There seems to be a big miss here on the enormity of the cuts being proposed. It is roughly a 25% cut. Efficiencies on there own will not cut the budget deficit.

Melvyn Sibson - ? - He asks to we need the HDC magazine every month. Well we don't get this every month!

Colin Gillan - ? - Colin cannot believe that swimming pools could close. I cannot find a district of a similar size with 5 public swimming pools and these cost.

Patricia Lines - ? - Instead of looking at cuts, Patricia wants to spend more money on more Leisure.

M Reeves - Huntingdon - Yes the consultation could be baffling. But this is a complicated set of issues which needs a complicated consultation.

Why does HDC have to make cuts?

There seems to be some misconceptions about why HDC is in this deep mess. This is a simple guide on the reason for the cuts. All Council Tax figures quoted are for Band D average Council taxpayer for the HDC element of the Council Tax bill.

The first point to consider is the level of spending against Council Tax raised. In the current budget the amount of money raised from Council Tax and also funded by the deficit is £11.9 million or £204.88 each.

We currently receive services that require Council Tax at the level of £204.88 but we only pay £124.17 (£7.2 million). The difference is £80.71 (£4.7 million) which is funded by rapidly diminishing reserves. When the reserves have gone the £80.71 still needs to be funded.

The second point for consideration is the services we currently receive we are not being taxed enough and should pay an extra £80.71.

The ultimate question is: Do we put up Council Tax up by at least £80.71 or cut services or a combination of the two?

The Cuts Letters - My Comments

St Neots News and Crier - 08/07/2010

Three ways to start the savings - M R Lovell tries to have a go at HDC but misses the points entirely.

1. Street light are a County Council responsibility.

2. The cemetery or closed cemetery is down to the Town Council.

3. As for picking up headstones and clearing up glass, many of these workers are there to do a job. The trouble is once this is done once then it becomes expected. This isn't their jobs.

So no real cuts in this letter. Just an badly aimed attack at HDC.

Clean up and enforce the laws - D. Porter decides the £5 million in savings means more money can be spent?! This is a cut in spending. Her rant does nothing to find where savings can be made! If the mess was outside my house I would clear it rather than bothering the Council over all this.


So no real cuts in this letter. Just an badly aimed attack at HDC.

Why should this be different - Pauline Webster starts off well in calling into question the record of consultations by HDC. So far HDC has done "not much". Where Pauline falls down is over the Job Centre. This was the Labour Government and not HDC which made the change. As for the new offices Megabucks would have not been saved by not building new offices. The Social Security and The Courts are again Labour Government projects. Pauline rants: "Do they believe we are all completely stupid and gullible?". The answer, with all these letters, has to be YES because people get so much wrong.