News RSS Feed


Council will end year £2.5m over budget

7:00am Wednesday 1st October 2008

comment Comments (22)   Have your say »


BOURNEMOUTH council is feeling the squeeze from the credit crunch, finding it difficult to collect council tax and paying out more money in housing benefits.

Other pressures include a reduction in planning application fees and fewer people using council car parks, thought to be a result of the introduction of free bus travel.

A financial report to councillors reveals that Bournemouth is currently set to end the financial year £2.5 million over budget.

And in a bid to generate more cash and balance the books, residents could be hit with a hike in council charges and fees.

Senior officers have all been warned that their departments must come within budget by the end of March - even if that means increasing fees by more than 2.5 per cent.

Officers have also compiled a long list of proposed "efficiency savings", which include closing the Kings Park mini household recycling site, reducing the frequency of emptying litter bins and closing half of the town's toilets.

The report, which will be considered by the council's administration and value for money overview panel next Thursday, states: "Bournemouth, like many other local authorities responsible for council tax collection, are experiencing increasing difficulties with regard to council tax collection in the current economic climate."

It adds that other potential pressures are the collection of business rates, housing and council tax benefits, homelessness and land charges.

The report states: "Budget performance in recent years has indicated that some business units have struggled to deliver their income targets.

"To manage any budget gap, service directors should consider increasing some fees and charges by more than 2.5 per cent, implementing new fees and charges, restructuring fees and charges or alternative budget savings."

Cllr John Beesley, deputy leader of the council, played down the difficulties in collecting council tax, saying the full picture is not yet known.

He criticised the government for not acknowledging the financial pressures local authorities were under but insisted he still expected the council to stick to its budget.

"I am confident that officers and members working together will achieve that," he said.

Print article » Email to a friend »

Your Say YourThisisdorset

Ferret37, Bos Vegas says...
7:39am Wed 1 Oct 08

Not just council tax they will have trouble collecting , i can even afford my income tax this year. So they will have to wait or send round the bailifs.

Report this post »

woodyinparkstone, parkstone says...
7:47am Wed 1 Oct 08

Maybe if they had not wasted public money on the free airshow that was suppose to generate so much money for the town then they wouldnt have had a deficit. Time and time again the council overspend on there budget and we the tax payers have to pay it. O.k, before some smart ars.. decides to say that i live in Parkstone and whats it got to do with me. Well i have elderly family living in Bournemouth and I am already paying most of there utility bills because they cant pay for them out of there pensions so I am entitled to my opinion. I also know that the airshow was sponsered by various companies but the council also payed a large amount of money towards this. That is council tax revenue being abused.

Report this post »

wonderway, boscombe says...
7:57am Wed 1 Oct 08

Does this mean that cllr Macloughlin's toilet mappping scheme will state council toilets closed please use business own toilets we closed all ours because it costs us to much to collect business rates(thought you got paid to collect these rates by Goverment)and we lost £300,000 on Air show (that was a sucess to the town) perhaps the town centre bid the is being formatted can pay to reopen the toilets under this.

Report this post »

MattyNeth, Bournemouth says...
9:42am Wed 1 Oct 08

Here's a novel idea. Why don't the council actually look to reduce overheads? Merge departments, cut headcount instead of constantly raising taxes/fees.

Scrap the final salary pension which is a HUGE drain on finance and install a contribution based pension.

If the council were a private company headcount could be cut 30-40% easily.

Report this post »

Richard Mayes, says...
9:51am Wed 1 Oct 08

Everyone budget is under pressure Cllr Macloughlin, in particular the elderly many of whom are both energy and council tax poor with over 10% of their incomes going on these items. They have to live within their budgets and so should the Council, the "Cabinet" who allegedly run things ( and pay themselves well to do so) are clearly incompetent. I have long held the view that the 3rd rate go into National Politics and the fith rate into Local, and events like this reinforce my view. We are in for a period of "stagflation" similar to that in the 30's and Local Government must simply become more efficient, there is ample room for that given the gap between the Private and Public productivity levels.

Report this post »

Geoff, Kinson says...
9:52am Wed 1 Oct 08

MattyNeth wrote:
Here's a novel idea. Why don't the council actually look to reduce overheads? Merge departments, cut headcount instead of constantly raising taxes/fees. Scrap the final salary pension which is a HUGE drain on finance and install a contribution based pension. If the council were a private company headcount could be cut 30-40% easily.
The Council has already made huge budget cuts in most departments !

Report this post »

Richard Mayes, says...
9:57am Wed 1 Oct 08

Geoff wrote:
MattyNeth wrote: Here's a novel idea. Why don't the council actually look to reduce overheads? Merge departments, cut headcount instead of constantly raising taxes/fees. Scrap the final salary pension which is a HUGE drain on finance and install a contribution based pension. If the council were a private company headcount could be cut 30-40% easily.
The Council has already made huge budget cuts in most departments !
But still have a twenty percent poorer productivity level than the Private Sector.

Report this post »

adrian fudge, boscombe east says...
10:05am Wed 1 Oct 08

This will give you an indication of the effect of the Tories "promise" to freeze Council tax for 2 years if they get elected .
Over recent years the Council has made huge savings and it is obvious that if more are to be made cuts in services are inevitable
Having said that its interesting to note that the Councillors got their large increases(£214K) , £500k is being spent on consultants for the "Town Centre Vision" and that they are moaning about the deficit on the Car Park budget whereas they took the £300K allocated to redress that problem and spent it on green waste disposal

Report this post »

Paul, Christchurch says...
10:11am Wed 1 Oct 08

Some of you lot are unreal!

"finding it difficult to collect council tax and paying out more money in housing benefits"

How is that the local council's fault?

Ferret37 - It's people like you then that are adding to the council tax bill!

Woody - 'wasted public money on the free airshow' ???speak to the local commerce sector and they will tell you how pleased they were at the levels of income that were generated.








Report this post »

Steve, Ensbury Park says...
10:19am Wed 1 Oct 08

Officers have also compiled a long list of proposed "efficiency savings", which include closing the Kings Park mini household recycling site, reducing the frequency of emptying litter bins and closing half of the town's toilets.

I wonder if they could have added 'councillors inflation busting rise' to that list.

Report this post »

MarcusD, Bournemouth says...
10:20am Wed 1 Oct 08

Just six months ago, these Conservative councillors voted themselves fat pay increases of up to 36 per cent.

Yet now they say they have to slash services and hike fees for the rest of us.

And while they dither over the budget, the over 60s and under-16s in the town - and elsewhere locally - are being conned out of free swimming.

Where is the Daily Echo's campaign calling on local councils to join the free swimming scheme and help improve the health of local youngsters and elderly folk?

Surely this is something a good local paper should be doing?

The sums involved are small compared to the potential benefits.




Report this post »

woodyinparkstone, parkstone says...
10:56am Wed 1 Oct 08

Paul wrote:
Some of you lot are unreal! "finding it difficult to collect council tax and paying out more money in housing benefits" How is that the local council's fault? Ferret37 - It's people like you then that are adding to the council tax bill! Woody - 'wasted public money on the free airshow' ???speak to the local commerce sector and they will tell you how pleased they were at the levels of income that were generated.
Never mind asking the local commerce how much they benefited from the airshow. How about asking the local population MANY WHO ARE ELDERLY and cant afford to heat there homes this winter because of having to pay the high price of council tax. Are you not aware that we are in a recession. If the council want to spend 300 thousand pound of council tax money on an airshow then they should not be in the red with there budgets. That is not rocket science

Report this post »

snoff, Poole says...
11:22am Wed 1 Oct 08

As I have said before, well done for the air show, put a smile on thousands of peoples faces. Look forward to next year!

How predictable some of the posts on here are...

Bring on the reef too! :)

Report this post »

woodyinparkstone, parkstone says...
11:30am Wed 1 Oct 08

snoff wrote:
As I have said before, well done for the air show, put a smile on thousands of peoples faces. Look forward to next year! How predictable some of the posts on here are... Bring on the reef too! :)
At least the reef is something that is permanent and not just for a few days.

Report this post »

Jayteer, Bournemouth says...
11:36am Wed 1 Oct 08

If the council want to spend 300 thousand pound of council tax money on an airshow then they should not be in the red with there budgets. That is not rocket science


The council did NOT pay 300k for the airshow.
The money which paid for the airshow came largely from the corporate sponsors of the event.
It is all too easy to blame the air show expenditure on the current situation-The fact is, even if the council HAD paid 300k for the air show, 300k is but a ripple in the ocean, and is an insignificant amount compared to whats needed.
One of the biggest drains on this local authoritys budget is community care services for adults: This is a sector undergoing huge change at the moment, but its also a sector of the council which faces HUGE problems due to the ever increasing elderly population residing in bournemouth, coupled with their ever increasing needs.

Its not all about wasteage and councillors- Sometimes the cost of providing services is partly to blame for the council to run short of money.

Report this post »

Quakers, Poole says...
12:40pm Wed 1 Oct 08

The Council has a responsibility to encourage income into the town which the air show did. So many locals benefitted - ok a few old people will get cold this Winter but at least some of the Town Centre holidays can now afford to pay their business rate which will help fund Council services. The Lib Dems cant really hold their heads high on this Mr fudge. You were all eating from the same trough - outrageous increases.

Report this post »

John, Poole says...
12:52pm Wed 1 Oct 08

snoff wrote:
As I have said before, well done for the air show, put a smile on thousands of peoples faces. Look forward to next year! How predictable some of the posts on here are... Bring on the reef too! :)
Did you mean Bring on the wreath too?!
The gravestones are already in Boscombe and hopefully we will soon hear the death knell for this discredited, or should that be uncreditworthy, Council.

Report this post »

enid, Bournemouth says...
1:17pm Wed 1 Oct 08

This council needs to cut back on "visions" and "strategies" and all the consultancy fees involved with hare brained ideas such as getting rid of vital flyovers and public toilets.
The next jolly will be the"Tourism Awards" and ceremony -who finances that?

Report this post »

John, Poole says...
1:26pm Wed 1 Oct 08

Senior officers have all been warned that their departments must come within budget by the end of March - even if that means increasing fees by more than 2.5 per cent.


Perhaps, these Conservative Councillors are labouring under the misconception that if they increase fees (stealth taxes) by 2.5 per cent, the National Government will give them another 2.5 per cent to waste on consultancy fees!

Report this post »

adrian fudge, boscombe east says...
3:15pm Wed 1 Oct 08

Quakers wrote:
The Council has a responsibility to encourage income into the town which the air show did. So many locals benefitted - ok a few old people will get cold this Winter but at least some of the Town Centre holidays can now afford to pay their business rate which will help fund Council services. The Lib Dems cant really hold their heads high on this Mr fudge. You were all eating from the same trough - outrageous increases.
I think you should look back and see over the years the amout of allowances I claimed which shoots your argument in the foot
Out of interest if you would like to compare what cllr Beesley is drawing for doing exactly the same job I was he is getting about 60% more
Also compare the amount of expenses i claimed over the years which was next to nothing

Report this post »

Bigtone, Poole says...
3:32pm Wed 1 Oct 08

"BOURNEMOUTH council is feeling the squeeze from the credit crunch, finding it difficult to collect council tax and paying out more money in housing benefits."

"And in a bid to generate more cash and balance the books, residents could be hit with a hike in council charges and fees."

Great Council logic.
They can't get the money out of people for Council tax soooooo errrrr lets put it up....Haaaaaaa.

Report this post »

kath_n_keith, Slades Farm says...
9:32pm Wed 1 Oct 08

From what we have experienced where Bournemouth Council are concerned, it is one rule for one and another rule for another. Now they want to rise Council Tax so that the law abiding people who actually do pay their Council Tax pay for those who break the law and don't! Typical really!!

Report this post »

Comments are closed on this article.

In this section

Essential Links

Sponsored Links



Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »