Oakham Town Council Plans To Raise Council Tax Bill

Oakham Town Council Plans To Raise Council Tax Bill

As if times are not hard enough for residents.

Oakham Town Council with no plan accept to collect money form residents
and spend as they please is proposing a council tax increase.

In a report  sent to councillors to be considered at next
weeks council meeting the newly formed Finance Working Group
a group which was formed to carry out work formally fudged by the
over paid Clerk.

The report suggests a small increase would be required to meet the
councils budget requirements.

The report goes onto raise a glimmer of hope, only to be quickly scuppered!

The Working group seem to agree with something I have raised many times before.

When setting the budget they should not allocate money to headings and then spend
the rest of the year deciding how they should spend that money.

This confirms my past comments about the Clerk ability to produce a budget was rubbish
and figures and amounts were just made up.

The report goes on to recommend the council should decide in advance what projects are
needed and then set the budget.

then here is when the report scuppers any hope of change at the Council.

Sticking with the Clerks Policy "its our job to collect the tax and spend as we please"

The report concludes. The group recognise that this is not something that will be achievable 
for the 2013 - 2014 

Why? 

is it a case of they can not be bothered to change?

They have 6 months before the end of the financial year it's pathetic. 

You have one Councillor supported by another on this group who can see this
is the correct path for any council to conduct its affairs.

Then you have another bunch who just feel its the way we have always done things.
so why change now? they need booting out.

I cant understand why it is not achievable? if you don't have any plans for the next year,
you don't need to collect  money from  the tax payer.

I am of the view this parish council should only collect money it needs and if future projects are
required then it raises the funds via the tax only when required.

It must stop this collecting and then deciding how to spend, because by doing this it wastes
public money every year, to justify its role.

The Clerk once gave a written report "we don't do much, but what we do is done well"

I believe so often work is created just to keep him in work.

As a unemployed person I would not wish unemployment upon anyone but in this case
The Clerk is taking the public for a ride. He is one of the councils biggest costs.