Balancing the Books
Last night I attended a training session at Bury Town Hall on budget setting. Also in attendance was the Executive Member for Finance. I don’t know whether to feel happy that he was conscientious enough to attend, or worried that he needed to be there… It’s a bit like boarding an aeroplane and seeing the pilot carrying a copy of “Flying for Dummies.”
It was an informative course, and now I know much more about Council budget setting than I did in the past. And it isn’t simple! So much more money is needed just to stand still, once you’ve added in inflation, rising staff costs, grants ending here and pension costs going up there. I don’t envy the accountants charged with balancing the books, but I do know that now I am much more able to join my more experienced Lib Dem colleagues on the Council in proposing alternative budget ideas which are fair, green and sensible. We did it last year with the Blue Bin Budget, and we’ll do it again this time round I’m sure.
Rick
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