Barnet Council - the Tory solution to beating the credit Crunch?

8:59am Sunday 21st September 2008

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Barnet is a suburb full of commuters. Many of them work in the financial services industry, which is currently seeing massive job cuts. Many families feel very worried about the future and how they'll pay their bills. As such I was pleased to see a story entitled "Measures to help the hard up" appear on the Times website. When I read it my feelings turned to dismay. Here's why.
I don't know about you, but the main thing I want when I have a bill to pay is the money to pay it. If I have to pay the gas bill of £50, buy the family shopping for £50 and I only have £100 in my bank account, I pay it. I don't have a curry or go to the pub that week. I tighten my belt. If I notice I can save £10 on my shopping by going to a different shop, thats what I do, then maybe I can go to the pub. It's really not that hard.

When it comes to the Council, different rules apply. In 2002 Barnet elected a Tory council who proudly claimed that they'd cut taxes and waste when they were elected. Have we had a single tax cut ever - No. My Council Tax has risen every year. One year it rose 26%! That was supposed to be to plug a hole in the reserves. When the hole was plugged, were there cuts? No. Now I thought they were going to cut waste? Surely the cuts would plug the hole? Again it seems not.

Lets have a quick review of current hot news regarding waste. Ask yourself how many of these things are vital in difficult times. £91,000 on tellies for council officers desks and video conferencing equipment (to save £4,500 in annual hire costs). £1,000,000 on new laptop computers, many of which are unused, incurring extra storage expenses. Laptop computers which are old models and obsolete. £1,000,000 in various costs to reopen Partingdale Lane. £1,000,000 in costs to investigate the sale of Barnet Underhill stadium.

As I said earlier, if I want to save a bit of money, I shop around. Take the Telly & video conference equipment £91,000. Did Barnet put it out to tender (ie try and get the lowest price). No they didn't, as it is below the limit for doing this, according to a council spokesman. So there you have it, they only shop around when the rules say they have to.

How is the credit crunch affecting our beloved council officers and councillors. If you check the Barnet Council accounts, there is a section detailing the number of staff earning over £50,000. Every year this goes up. The number earning over £100,000 has risen to 17 this year. 5 of them got a Sony Plasma screen telly on their desk. The crunch really must be hurting them. As for councillors, allowances etc have risen to such a level that the 63 councillors now cost us around a million pounds. Just to be the chief whip of the Barnet Tories, you get an extra few thousand pounds of our money. Times are hard !!!

Now I thought the story would say how they would be cutting back, saving cash, letting us keep a bit of our own money, but no. They are setting up scheme's to help people claim more benefits and give people in exceptional hardship more cash. All very commendable, but doesn't it occur to them that the huge tax rises may have made them skint in the first place. Why not deal with the root cause?

The other part of the scheme struck me as truly bizarre. In a week when our larges mortgage lender nearly went bust and had to be taken over, as a result of lending to people without the cash to keep up mortgage payments, what have Barnet done?

They are setting up a scheme to give people £29,000 to help buy their council houses. I'd like £29,000 to help me pay my mortgage I can tell you. This scheme will reduce the stock of council houses, cost a fortune and a percentage of people will be enticed into taking on mortgages they can't afford and lose their homes. This was exactly what caused the credit crunch in the first place. Who is giving these tenants £29,000 to buy their council house (and hopefully sell at a huge profit in a few years). You got it we all are.

Here's what I'd do, to try and help the credit crunch. I'd cut out the outrageous waste. I'd cut back on highly paid staff. I'd shop around for everything. I'd not spend a penny of our money unless it delivered a benefit to the taxpayer as opposed to a council official. I'd take those plasma screen tellies on officers desks and put them on Ebay. Most of all I'd immediately stop the scheme to give people £29,000 to take on mortgages they won't be able to pay. Maybe then, in their seventh year they could deliver on the promise that enticed all of the poor fools in Barnet to vote for them, and actually cut your tax.