You will see Oakham Town Councils extravagant expenditure is highlighted.
This year Oakham Town Council will increase its General Administration costs to £80,700
a increase of £9711.
It is interesting to see on the next page Uppingham Town Council is run on a total income of £80,020
I guess they don't have to pay their efficient Clerk such a high salary?
Why has Oakham Town Council been able to spiral out of control?
This year it will spend £206,690 of your money.
In these time of hardship and cuts, we see no cuts at Oakham Town Council. All we see is spend, spend, over the next week perfectly good benches will be ripped out of Cutts Close and replaced with new ones just because it will look nice? more will follow later this year!
I clearly remember the clerk telling me its our job to collect the taxes and spend as we please.
They certainly know how to do that.
The only service I can see the Town Council provide is via contractors, litter picking and works in a couple of small parks.
I am told if these contracts were merged with Rutland County Councils the cost to the tax payer would be insignificant.
A member of the public asked me why are they spending £10,000 on baskets of flowers to decorate what is slowly becoming a boarded up high street. At least the Clerk managed to persuade his close associate to drop the price by £7,000 this year! although they lost the watering contract this awarded to another company for £4,000 less. Think of the saving to public if the Clerk had tendered the previous two years. Although I am sure the saving would have been passed back to the tax payer. I am sure it would have been squandered.
I will look on with interest to see how the £11,000 saved this year will be handled.
It is interesting to read Thorpe by Water the home of our MP Alan Duncan does not pay a parish precept.
This is one of 16 parishes in Rutland that don't require a precept.
I am often asked what the Town Council does and often attacked by a few it is supporters. They say these people give their time for the good of the town, for free. Its not a charity and I strongly believe the majority of it members, more so past members have selfish motives.
Of course there has been a lot has changes, no more council dinners at the Whipper Inn paid for by the tax payer.
Planning is pointless because it does not matter what is said by Oakham Town Council (their own web site admits this) your better of putting your own representation direct to Rutland County Council.
www.oakhamtowncouncil.gov.uk/planning
If people want change they can achieve it. take a look at what the residents of Letchworth Garden City did when the administration of their town council went like Oakham Town Council's
www.letchworth-tc.gov.uk
