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Barnet Borough Liberal DemocratsCampaigning in Chipping Barnet, Finchley and Golders Green and Hendon |
Taxing times
February 24, 2009 11:03 PM
By Cllr Jack Cohen in Hendon Times
By Cllr Jack Cohen in Hendon Times
All good things must come to an end. I have returned from holiday. I had requested the Council Officers not to deliver any papers during my absence, so I had no idea what would be in store yesterday evening.
The Cabinet met at 7pm. The main items on the agenda were the Budget and the Corporate Plan. Regular readers will know that these items can be called in to be scrutinised by the Cabinet Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Apparently there had been a bit of a row whilst I was away. The Cabinet Overview meeting was originally scheduled for March 2nd. This would have allowed Councillors to examine the Budget proposals before the full Council Meeting on March 3rd.
The meeting was cancelled (rumour has it that it clashed with some Tory shindig) and rearranged for March 5th after the Council meeting; not much point in that.
So, after much wrangling the cabinet overview meeting was hastily rescheduled for last night. An 8pm start or after the conclusion of the cabinet meeting which ever was the later.
I decided to observe the cabinet meeting (who knows what nuggets of information could be picked up). The public gallery was full. Well, full of Council Officers and Trade Unions Officials and Councillors.
Oddly,"reserved" notices had been placed on the front row seats. Reserved apparently for "assistant cabinet members" I kid you not. The scene in front of us was surreal.
The set up of meetings is that Councillors sit on one side of the table with the Council officers seated opposite. At 7pm (the scheduled start time); a phalanx of top Council Officers was in their places, facing a row of empty seats where the cabinet members were supposed to sit
What drama I wondered was about to unfold, I was reminded of the football chant "you're too scared to come on out". Suddenly from nowhere the cabinet members trooped on to the pitch. like a relegated haunted team
In less than twenty minutes the meeting was all over. The discussion on the corporate plan took all of five minutes. The discussion on the Budget took slightly longer. No changes were made; the leader blamed the Government for making life difficult.
So the proposal to increase Council Tax far in excess of inflation is unchanged. No doubt it will be voted through at the Council Meeting next week. Barnet Residents will then discover that they have one of the largest tax increases in London but with ever worsening services.
There was little or no further discussion. The usual suspect (you know who I mean), blamed the Finchley and Hendon Times. He thought the Council is doing a wonderful job but the local paper only published negative stories He accused them of "knocking copy". Their fault entirely for negative reporting he protested. Well they only report the facts I thought to myself.
We then had to kick our heels for forty minutes before the start of the Cabinet Overview Scrutiny Committee; pretty much a none event. The Tory members of the committee did not ask a single question. Why do they turn up?
I asked a number of questions. I queried the increases in cemetery charges. The Leader of the Council explained that the Officers had forgotten to clear the proposals with the relevant Cabinet member (you know who). I heard a stage whisper right "more like the Cabinet member forgot to read the papers"
Finally, I spotted a schedule in the budget paper which seemed to demonstrate that Barnet ranked twenty seven out of the thirty three London Councils when it came to reserves and balances. I queried whether this was an indication of poor financial management by this Administration.
The Leader replied with a smile on his face that they still had to sort out the legacy of the Labour/ Lib Dem administration from seven years ago!
Only goes to prove Shultz's law that "a man who can smile when things are going wrong has found someone else to blame"!
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