Council budget cuts

[KTL]

How did we get into this crisis? UK and international banks carried out reckless, high risk and ultimately damaging lending and investment strategies.

Many banks collapsed, those which didn't collapse were bailed out by national governments. Now these governments have huge budget defecits. Their solution is not to change the system which created the crisis. Their solution is cut public expenditure to satisfy the needs of the very markets which created the problem in the first place!

We should not be fighting amounst ourselves.

This mess is not our our making. We should not be paying for the mistakes of others.

Anyway, cutting public sector jobs is a bizzare way to address this problem. At least a third of money paid out on public sector jobs goes straigt back to the government in tax, national insurance and employers national insurance. The VAT on things we buy goes straight back to the government.

VAT is a regressive tax. The lower paid you are, the more of your annual income you pay out in VAT.

Cuts in public sector employment are not the answer. A proper overhaul of the tax system is the answer. Those who can afford it should pay most, and those who can't afford it should get most help.

[Gorgonzola Butt-cheese]

If you leave the international corruption of banking aside KTL.

You just answered why the public sector is not sustainable ( at present levels)

example -For every million spent on public sector employees wages monthly, a third comes back in tax.

So thats January out of the road, how does it work for the rest of the year.

The public sector in any country must have substantial private sector employees to back it up !

[KTL]

Cheers GBC

If you leave the international corruption of banking aside KTL.

 

Very little of it was corruption. Most of the problem was part of "business as usual".

...

So thats January out of the road, how does it work for the rest of the year.

The public sector in any country must have substantial private sector employees to back it up !

I think you'll find one third of 12 is a shade under four months, not one..., but the point I was trying to make was that a sizeable chunk of the headline figure makes it way back to the government, and doesn't disappear into offshore bank accounts as private profit.

Now, if this was a paper exercise to save money, how about cutting some of the dodgy deals the public sector makes with the private sector such as PFI, big grants to deadbeat companies, blank cheque consultancy services to cover poor decision making or to cover their own mistakes, and paying over the odds for big infrastructure programs?

Unfortunately it is a real attempt to undermine local government and the wider public sector, as a means to privatise and convert public good into private profit for the handful of very large trans-national companies who would like this to happen.

[ArabiaTerra]

How did we get into this crisis? UK and international banks carried out reckless, high risk and ultimately damaging lending and investment strategies.

Many banks collapsed, those which didn't collapse were bailed out by national governments. Now these governments have huge budget defecits. Their solution is not to change the system which created the crisis. Their solution is cut public expenditure to satisfy the needs of the very markets which created the problem in the first place!

We should not be fighting amounst ourselves.

This mess is not our our making. We should not be paying for the mistakes of others.

Anyway, cutting public sector jobs is a bizzare way to address this problem. At least a third of money paid out on public sector jobs goes straigt back to the government in tax, national insurance and employers national insurance. The VAT on things we buy goes straight back to the government.

VAT is a regressive tax. The lower paid you are, the more of your annual income you pay out in VAT.

Cuts in public sector employment are not the answer. A proper overhaul of the tax system is the answer. Those who can afford it should pay most, and those who can't afford it should get most help.

 

QFT.

[voxreasonable]

(** mod edit - topic merged to existing - please use the "Post Reply" button and not the "New Topic" button! **)

 

The percentage of council workers per head of population on Shetland is well above the national average. In fact the council is the biggest employer on the island. It's obvious that, in this time of financial crisis, Shetland Council will be a soft target for job cuts and that it will have an impact on life here.

 

I've read and heard a lot of angry rhetoric recently mostly aimed at council workers. Yes, I agree with some that a few at the very top who are not actually earning their pay, probably deserve to be let go. Insert your own favorite here...... But the fact is many innocent hard-working people will also be out of a job.

 

Instead of all this in-fighting and political bickering shouldn't our politicians be doing something help develop or attract new jobs to the island. What have they actually done for us in the last 6 months (apart from gossip with press)?

 

Lets see some real results.

[turningright]

i have a suggestion, if, in fact, the needs of the many truly do outweigh the needs of the few, as we are so often fed.

 

i suggest we sack Willie Shannon and redistribute his size-able salary.

 

this is by no means a personal attack on the fellow, but he was absent from his post for 4 months recently and the sky didn't cave in so he obviously isn't the glue that holds it all together if your picking up what I'm putting down...

 

if it works we could try sacking a few more, kind of like corporate jenga,

if it goes as well as i suspect it would and we clear the decks of perhaps 60% of them we could all knit and play music all day long.

 

ive said it before and 5 weeks on it still makes sense to me.

[Carlos]

The percentage of council workers per head of population on Shetland is well above the national average.

Are there solid figures comparing the SIC staff figures with a range of other local authorities that account for staff at ferries, ports and harbours, trusts etc that are not covered elsewhere, as well as considering services outher councils cover with private contracts instead of in-house staff?

I know the bottom line staff figures are much higher here, but I'm not really sure where they sit service for service, like for like?

[tlady]

They could cut a bit off the maintenance budget by using the same road signs.

 

They have specially made road signs for the resurfacing work at the Clickimin roundabout!

 

For 1 weeks use!

 

Total waste of money !!

[Twerto]

those signs are reused, just the wording gets changed for each particular site, and the wording is all done in house in about an hour, not contracted out like a lot of other jobs that could easily be done in house.

[MuckleJoannie]

How about this for an idea

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/10435609.stm

 

Applying for a bus pass and buying a folding bike are among methods some of Highland's 80 councillors are using to reduce their travel costs.

 

In February, members were urged by council leaders to help the authority save £50,000 on their expenses.

 

Almost six months on, the BBC Scotland news website asked councillors what they had done regards travel.

 

Most who replied had used alternatives to their own cars, but those in remote wards had found it hard to do.

 

In 2009-10, Highland Council paid out £230,640 in members' travel expenses.

 

The previous financial year, the figure was higher at £285,157.

 

However

" This has hardly been cost effective to the council as a return bus ticket costs little less than the mileage remuneration"

 

Roddy Balfour Culloden and Ardersier councillor

 

[lerwick]

Thats a good idea tell sandy to get on his bike.

[tlady]

those signs are reused, just the wording gets changed for each particular site, and the wording is all done in house in about an hour, not contracted out like a lot of other jobs that could easily be done in house.

 

Fair enough

[JustMe]

tlady was right to question those road signs at the South Road roundabout. Ok so on this occasion there is a good explanation that the signs are reused but if our council is going to cut costs it is reasonable to question everything from the role of the Assistant Chief Executive down to the size of light bulbs used in public toilets. Not looking for cuts just for the sake of cuts but cuts that can leave the overall level of service provided by the council at a high level but at lower cost.

 

Now if anyone at the Town Hall was to read this thread then maybe Shetlink could contribute a load of sensible (or not so sensible) ideas and I am going to start with one that might be really rubbish.......but could still save money. Black bags!.........since the council is moving towards wheelie bins is it time to stop providing free black bags?.

[Styumpie]

How low could we push council wages until they make a dash to the private sector? probably very low, we should use a bit of free market thinking, I'm talking about council workers who earn above £20,000 per year, not those who do most of the physical work who are on less than £20,000 per year.

 

The council is not there to create employment, its for providing basic services efficiently for which we pay our taxes. I am not happy paying tax to subsidise public sector jobs. I would happily sacrifice all the non essential dross for a big cut in tax. Just heard mentioned possible 40% cuts for the year after.

[Gorgonzola Butt-cheese]

Just me is fairly right in stating that everything should be up for consideration for streamlining council expense and that should definately start from the top down, assistant C.E's? surely no need .

But lets stop a moment and look at the bigger picture, it is mostly agreed that frontline services and low level management perform good services be it refuse collection, road repairs, ferry services or the excellent education and care of the elderly facillities the islands presently enjoy.

Its when we look at the top level management , the extremely embarrasing and shameful pantomime that has taken place in the town hall, and several of the incredibly bad financial decisions made by the top brass - Smyril line, bridge building plans, tunnel digging plans, mareel and mega windfarms etc, etc.

So here we are education to be cut, vital transport links left to wither , taxes going up and services in return going down, its a disgusting state of affairs .

Especially when we are still one of the richest local authorities in the U.K.!!

Our fossil fuel piggy bank continues to generate revenue and payments into it should be increasing with the total gas plant coming on line, if this is not happening our council leaders are failing us.

And this will continue for at least the working lives of kids leaving the school this year.

 

So here is what I think.

Our oil revenue should be ring fenced for two areas of financial support - Education , Care of the Elderly & members of the community with special needs .

Off course the development trust should continue to function and low rate loans given to viable new businesses which guarentee local jobs . (ok thats three areas, but the first to should take presidence - say 80% funds used to safeguard)

 

The windfarm if it goes ahead (god forbid!) should be a purely private enterprise, with the council coffers taking a significant rental fee for us having to live with it.

 

The Mareel project should not be bailed out under any circumstances if it cant pay for itself . But I sincerlely hope it is a huge success. But how can you justify a cinema if schools are being closed down?

 

And I hope .

We have a cleansing of the council chambers as soon as possible, at least 80% need to be removed at the next election, especially the dinosaurs amongst them.

 

With good quality leadership the Shetland Isles should have a greater level of independance, look at faroe, the isle of man etc, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

But we need the good quality leadership first .