Comment: Be careful with that axe, Eugene - Walsall Council cuts
13 Sep 09 12:17 Filed in: News
Comment
Be careful with that axe, Eugene
The Plastic Hippo 13 Sep 09
This week, shadow chancellor George Osborne gave us a clue as to how a future Conservative government would handle public spending. Incredibly, the inept, reckless and knee-jerk fiscal management of Walsall Council may be held up as an example of what to expect nationally.
Speaking to a seminar of Tory council leaders, Mr Osborne said: “When it comes to rooting out waste and cutting costs, or improving services through innovative new policies, Conservative councils are showing it can be done.” Clearly he has no idea of what is going on here in Walsall.
Facing a massive £13.4 million deficit in the 2009/2010 budget, our enlightened council are bullishly charging through the china shop destroying anything that is precious and expensive. Care for elderly and disabled people, schools given away to some rather dubious characters, libraries closed one day a week, Bryntysilio dumped and the Grange golf course still under threat are the first targets. This, together with the continuing mindless policy of outsourcing vital services to the cheapest cowboy contractor, is turning Walsall into a giant car boot sale. “Everything must go” scream the consultants as they head back to London with yet another fat fee stashed in the briefcase.
Now, leader of the Council Mike Bird is proposing a pay freeze and a reduction in working hours for 12,000 local authority staff in order to cut costs.
“We are looking at ways of increasing income instead of cuts” he said. “We don`t want to take out services so may look at prices.” So it seems that we will be paying more for less. He also gives a hint that his negotiation tactics are unlikely to be conciliatory by stating: “It is far better to have a job on reduced hours than not at all.” One shudders to think of the magnitude of unfair dismissal pay-outs.
It is not clear at this stage if the £30,000 basic yearly allowance paid to Councillor Bird will be part of this austerity package.
In the coming weeks, we can expect much talk of “efficiency savings, smart procurement, tough choices and best value” – all euphemisms for cuts to services vital to the most vulnerable. This process has already begun with the latest edition of Walsall Pride. This comic, funded by the public purse, usually features the rictus grins of Tory councillors, good eggs all, who tell us of the wonderful job they are doing and how we should all be grateful. This latest “Pride” – not to be confused with a celebration of diversity, humanity and community – is instead packed with inconsequential “advice” on how to survive “the recession”, redundancy, bankruptcy and home repossession. In other pages there is an image of a load of rubbish outside the Council House. Councillor Bird is not grinning.
It is true that times are hard, but key indicators published this week suggest that the downturn is over and that economic growth is likely. However, those within the Council who are determined to reduce frontline services will repeat the nonsense that “the recession” was caused by someone called Gordon Brown. Whilst Brown, Darling and Mandelson may be duplicitous and rather unpleasant, it is not their job to take the blame for local authority incompetence. Our lot, strangers to the works of Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes and J.K.Galbraith, seem bent on a course of slash and burn economics. There is an “invisible hand” at work here.
Strange then, that the disastrous deal done with some snake-oil salesmen to provide advertising on lamp-posts was signed during a period of economic boom. Strange too, that the missing £42 million from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and the £4 million in missing receipts have conveniently disappeared off the radar. With sublime mathematical irony, the over spend on the woeful and downright dangerous ring road almost exactly matches the £5.6 million deficit for this year. All this mismanagement took place long before any of us had heard of the Lehman brothers or Fanny Mae or Freddie Mac.
So, let us look at some of the ideas that the brightest and the best of Tory local government have come up with that have so impressed the shadow chancellor. Barnet are proposing a “no-frills” approach to services, earning them the nickname “EasyCouncil”. It seems that if you want your bins emptied more than once a year, you and your neighbours should have a whip round and pay for the service yourselves. The plan does not explain what you do if you have no income and a family member who requires care. Hammersmith and Fulham have achieved a derisory 3% reduction in Council Tax by imposing swinging cuts to front line services. Essex have founded their own bank and are handing over all administrative tasks to IBM. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wants to take control of Housing and Transport.
All these proposals have one goal – to reduce the burden of Council Tax on households. Walsall, sadly, have missed the point. The cuts we are facing will not reduce Council Tax; we have one of the highest rates in the region. The cuts are being made to pay for a shortfall brought about by either gross incompetence - or some other reason.
One delegate at the George Osborne seminar said this: “Cuts have to be made. What we need to do is use a scalpel, not an axe.”
Unfortunately, Walsall has yet to master the use of an axe and prefers to make cuts using a sledge hammer.
Mercury 13 Sep Public spending cuts 'will increase unemployment'
Times 9 Sep Tory councils show Whitehall the way, says Osborne
Telegraph 9 Sep Britain climbing out of recession as economic growth grows
Express & Star 9 Sep Cash crisis at Walsall Council
Walsall Council Walsall Pride September 2009 pdf
Recent employment links at Walsall Council
Express & Star 17 Aug Walsall Council's £2.25m consultant bill attacked
Express & Star 13 Aug Council to cut £10m agency bill
BrowhillsBob 4 Jul Blogger apologises to Walsall Council
Express & Star 3 Jul 300 council staff earn over £50k
Express & Star 9 Jul 464 years of council sickies in 12 months
Express & Star 25 Jun Walsall Council jobs toll at 470
Express & Star 24 Jun Council pension deficit of £268m
Express & Star 30 Apr 400 staff apply for redundancy
Advertiser 22 Jan 50 Council jobs to go
Tax Payers Alliance Town Hall Rich list 2008 (pdf)
Walsall Council social cuts - links
Express & Star 10 July Walsall Council has to save extra £5m
YamYam 29 Aug Walsall Council care budget slashed
Express & Star 19 Aug Walsall Council pull plug on Willenhall day centre
Express & Star 3 Aug Council pull plug on Streetly OAP centre
Express & Star 25 Jul Fight goes online to save Bryntysilio youth activity centre from axe
Express & Star 24 Jul Beechdale day centre jobs axe sparks controversy
The Times 1 June Elderly left at risk by NHS bidding wars to find cheapest care with reverse auctions (incl Walsall)
BBC News 15 May Walsall home care system 'in chaos'
Brownhills Bob 15 May The ongoing shambles that is social care in Walsall
More cuts (& attempted cuts) & tax increases by Walsall Council - links
Express & Star 15 Aug Walsall's Sunday parking charges revealed
B'ham Mail 25 June Walsall's historic market sell-off plan scrapped in face of opposition
Express & Star 18 Jun Brownhills Market comes to an end (U-turned)
Express & Star 28 Apr Walsall parking fees up a third
Express & Star 17 Apr Council stops taxi driver security scheme funding
Express & Star 30 Mar It’s recycle or be fined
Advertiser 26 Mar 50% of market to be sold off (U-turned)
Express & Star 20 Mar Fountain to stay off due to cuts
Express & Star 15 Mar £7.9m Arboretum facelift delayed (back on)
Birmingham Mail 27 Feb Walsall library services slashed
Advertiser 12 Feb Council tax up by almost 4% (higher than neighbouring boroughs)
Express & Star 5 Feb Arbo lights to be switched off
Express & Star 16 Jan Walsall golf course faces closure (reprieved)
Express & Star 12 Dec 08 Goodbye lock museum
Major financial blunders by Walsall Council - links
BrownhillsBob 30 Jun Lost property: can you help?
Express & Star 29 Jun Council must pay back up to £4m
Advertiser 13 May Ring road over budget by £5.3m
Advertiser 5 Feb Walsall Council lighting blunder costs £6m
The Register 24 Jan 06 Walsall Council escapes scrutiny of scuppered £500m Fujitsu deal
Inquiry links into £42m misspending by Council
Advertiser 25 Jun 09 Misspending legacy lingers on
Advertiser 18 Jun 09 Council cleared over £42m spending
E&S 13 Jun Council get all clear in police & CPS probe
B'ham Post 14 May 08 Surveyor life threatened over bungs
TheyWorkforYou 7 Mar 08 Walsall Council Hansard debate
Blog Bob Piper 17 Sep 07 What Walsall did to him
Audit Commission 11 Sep 07 Range of failings led to payout
Blog Bob Piper 6 Sep 07 Walsall cover-up
Blog Bob Piper 6 Sep 07 Report to blast Tory Council
B'ham Post 6 Dec 06 Whistleblower's £650k payout
Walsall Council 5 Dec 06 Council agrees settlement
B'ham Post 25 May 06 Walsall pays out after sacking
Blog Peter Francis What Walsall did to me
Be careful with that axe, Eugene
The Plastic Hippo 13 Sep 09
This week, shadow chancellor George Osborne gave us a clue as to how a future Conservative government would handle public spending. Incredibly, the inept, reckless and knee-jerk fiscal management of Walsall Council may be held up as an example of what to expect nationally.
Speaking to a seminar of Tory council leaders, Mr Osborne said: “When it comes to rooting out waste and cutting costs, or improving services through innovative new policies, Conservative councils are showing it can be done.” Clearly he has no idea of what is going on here in Walsall.
Facing a massive £13.4 million deficit in the 2009/2010 budget, our enlightened council are bullishly charging through the china shop destroying anything that is precious and expensive. Care for elderly and disabled people, schools given away to some rather dubious characters, libraries closed one day a week, Bryntysilio dumped and the Grange golf course still under threat are the first targets. This, together with the continuing mindless policy of outsourcing vital services to the cheapest cowboy contractor, is turning Walsall into a giant car boot sale. “Everything must go” scream the consultants as they head back to London with yet another fat fee stashed in the briefcase.
Now, leader of the Council Mike Bird is proposing a pay freeze and a reduction in working hours for 12,000 local authority staff in order to cut costs.
“We are looking at ways of increasing income instead of cuts” he said. “We don`t want to take out services so may look at prices.” So it seems that we will be paying more for less. He also gives a hint that his negotiation tactics are unlikely to be conciliatory by stating: “It is far better to have a job on reduced hours than not at all.” One shudders to think of the magnitude of unfair dismissal pay-outs.
It is not clear at this stage if the £30,000 basic yearly allowance paid to Councillor Bird will be part of this austerity package.
It is true that times are hard, but key indicators published this week suggest that the downturn is over and that economic growth is likely. However, those within the Council who are determined to reduce frontline services will repeat the nonsense that “the recession” was caused by someone called Gordon Brown. Whilst Brown, Darling and Mandelson may be duplicitous and rather unpleasant, it is not their job to take the blame for local authority incompetence. Our lot, strangers to the works of Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes and J.K.Galbraith, seem bent on a course of slash and burn economics. There is an “invisible hand” at work here.
Strange then, that the disastrous deal done with some snake-oil salesmen to provide advertising on lamp-posts was signed during a period of economic boom. Strange too, that the missing £42 million from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and the £4 million in missing receipts have conveniently disappeared off the radar. With sublime mathematical irony, the over spend on the woeful and downright dangerous ring road almost exactly matches the £5.6 million deficit for this year. All this mismanagement took place long before any of us had heard of the Lehman brothers or Fanny Mae or Freddie Mac.
So, let us look at some of the ideas that the brightest and the best of Tory local government have come up with that have so impressed the shadow chancellor. Barnet are proposing a “no-frills” approach to services, earning them the nickname “EasyCouncil”. It seems that if you want your bins emptied more than once a year, you and your neighbours should have a whip round and pay for the service yourselves. The plan does not explain what you do if you have no income and a family member who requires care. Hammersmith and Fulham have achieved a derisory 3% reduction in Council Tax by imposing swinging cuts to front line services. Essex have founded their own bank and are handing over all administrative tasks to IBM. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wants to take control of Housing and Transport.
All these proposals have one goal – to reduce the burden of Council Tax on households. Walsall, sadly, have missed the point. The cuts we are facing will not reduce Council Tax; we have one of the highest rates in the region. The cuts are being made to pay for a shortfall brought about by either gross incompetence - or some other reason.
One delegate at the George Osborne seminar said this: “Cuts have to be made. What we need to do is use a scalpel, not an axe.”
Unfortunately, Walsall has yet to master the use of an axe and prefers to make cuts using a sledge hammer.
Mercury 13 Sep Public spending cuts 'will increase unemployment'
Times 9 Sep Tory councils show Whitehall the way, says Osborne
Telegraph 9 Sep Britain climbing out of recession as economic growth grows
Express & Star 9 Sep Cash crisis at Walsall Council
Walsall Council Walsall Pride September 2009 pdf
Recent employment links at Walsall Council
Express & Star 17 Aug Walsall Council's £2.25m consultant bill attacked
Express & Star 13 Aug Council to cut £10m agency bill
BrowhillsBob 4 Jul Blogger apologises to Walsall Council
Express & Star 3 Jul 300 council staff earn over £50k
Express & Star 9 Jul 464 years of council sickies in 12 months
Express & Star 25 Jun Walsall Council jobs toll at 470
Express & Star 24 Jun Council pension deficit of £268m
Express & Star 30 Apr 400 staff apply for redundancy
Advertiser 22 Jan 50 Council jobs to go
Tax Payers Alliance Town Hall Rich list 2008 (pdf)
Walsall Council social cuts - links
Express & Star 10 July Walsall Council has to save extra £5m
YamYam 29 Aug Walsall Council care budget slashed
Express & Star 19 Aug Walsall Council pull plug on Willenhall day centre
Express & Star 3 Aug Council pull plug on Streetly OAP centre
Express & Star 25 Jul Fight goes online to save Bryntysilio youth activity centre from axe
Express & Star 24 Jul Beechdale day centre jobs axe sparks controversy
The Times 1 June Elderly left at risk by NHS bidding wars to find cheapest care with reverse auctions (incl Walsall)
BBC News 15 May Walsall home care system 'in chaos'
Brownhills Bob 15 May The ongoing shambles that is social care in Walsall
More cuts (& attempted cuts) & tax increases by Walsall Council - links
Express & Star 15 Aug Walsall's Sunday parking charges revealed
B'ham Mail 25 June Walsall's historic market sell-off plan scrapped in face of opposition
Express & Star 18 Jun Brownhills Market comes to an end (U-turned)
Express & Star 28 Apr Walsall parking fees up a third
Express & Star 17 Apr Council stops taxi driver security scheme funding
Express & Star 30 Mar It’s recycle or be fined
Advertiser 26 Mar 50% of market to be sold off (U-turned)
Express & Star 20 Mar Fountain to stay off due to cuts
Express & Star 15 Mar £7.9m Arboretum facelift delayed (back on)
Birmingham Mail 27 Feb Walsall library services slashed
Advertiser 12 Feb Council tax up by almost 4% (higher than neighbouring boroughs)
Express & Star 5 Feb Arbo lights to be switched off
Express & Star 16 Jan Walsall golf course faces closure (reprieved)
Express & Star 12 Dec 08 Goodbye lock museum
Major financial blunders by Walsall Council - links
BrownhillsBob 30 Jun Lost property: can you help?
Express & Star 29 Jun Council must pay back up to £4m
Advertiser 13 May Ring road over budget by £5.3m
Advertiser 5 Feb Walsall Council lighting blunder costs £6m
The Register 24 Jan 06 Walsall Council escapes scrutiny of scuppered £500m Fujitsu deal
Inquiry links into £42m misspending by Council
Advertiser 25 Jun 09 Misspending legacy lingers on
Advertiser 18 Jun 09 Council cleared over £42m spending
E&S 13 Jun Council get all clear in police & CPS probe
B'ham Post 14 May 08 Surveyor life threatened over bungs
TheyWorkforYou 7 Mar 08 Walsall Council Hansard debate
Blog Bob Piper 17 Sep 07 What Walsall did to him
Audit Commission 11 Sep 07 Range of failings led to payout
Blog Bob Piper 6 Sep 07 Walsall cover-up
Blog Bob Piper 6 Sep 07 Report to blast Tory Council
B'ham Post 6 Dec 06 Whistleblower's £650k payout
Walsall Council 5 Dec 06 Council agrees settlement
B'ham Post 25 May 06 Walsall pays out after sacking
Blog Peter Francis What Walsall did to me