Call for senior staff pay rise to be scrapped

Liberal Democrats are calling for plans to increase the salaries of top council officers to be scrapped.

Fat cat

The proposals to introduce ‘market supplements’ in order to raise pay for specific senior officer posts were pushed through by Labour in August, but still need to be formally approved at tomorrow’s Full Council. The Lib Dems will oppose Labour’s recommendation and call for the supplements to be scrapped.

Currently, officers in City of York Council’s Management Team receive between £88,080 and £149,710 a year, but the pay for these posts could rocket if plans for the special payments are approved. Supplements are expected to be worth around £10-15,000 per post.

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Street level public service standards – plea to York Council next Thursday.

The York Council at a meeting next week will be asked to jettison its prestige expenditure plans and return to a more sensible economic policy.

Weeds need strimming at end of Ridgeway

Weeds need strimming at end of Ridgeway

A motion being put forward by the Liberal Democrats condemns deteriorating roads, footpaths and increasing litter as well as plans to reduce de icing services in winter.

It says that Labour’s decision to scrap the “York Pride” maintenance programmes means that many areas are now strewn with weeds and detritus.

Carriageway failed in Vesper Drive

Carriageway failed in Vesper Drive

Recent rain highlighted the impact that Labours decision to end the routine cleaning of gullies (road drains) is already having.

Meanwhile a rather disingenuous motion from Labour Cllr Burton, seeks to justify the bill for York staging the start of just one Tour de France stage.

The cost to taxpayers is already in excess of £1.5 million and rising.

The Labour backed motion says that any income to the Council from the event should be allocate to improve basic service standards.

It fails however to say that the income from a few hot dog stands is unlikely to make much difference.

The cost of the repairs back log on the City’s roads and footpaths alone now stands at over £20 million.

The Liberal Democrat motion reads
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York Councillors expenses published

click for complete list

click for complete list

The Council has published a list of expenses claimed by Councillors during August.

Nothing particularly noteworthy other than an eye-watering £220 London hotel bill for Cllr Crisp. This was apparently coupled to a visit to Elstree (where they filmed Madame Pompadour in 1927). She also draws a salary of around £1800 a month from the Council.

Tory Councillor John Galvin attended a Local Government Association conference with a whopping £229 registration fee. However, he only costs taxpayers £1100 a month in wages

Cllr Simpson Laing charged taxpayers only £118 for another conference hotel in Manchester (Her salary – £2000 pm).

Looking back to July, Cllr Crisp had also been staying in a London hotel then although on this occasion at a more modest £147 cost.

Commendably Cllr Crisp hasn’t apparently claimed back the travel costs of her regular trips to the capital.

Allerton Park waste project deadline extended.

The York Council has today agreed to extend the deadline by which planning permission for the new waste disposal facility at Allerton Park must be achieved.

The agreement with the contractors AmeyCespa was due to expire today but a last ditch agreement has extended the agreement until at least the “Cabinet” meeting on 1st October.

Propsed waste disposal facility at Allerton park

Propsed waste disposal facility at Allerton park

The granting of planning permission had been held up following a move by a Parish Council which asked for a judicial review of the terms of the planning permission.

This is still being considered by the Court of Appeal

The North Yorkshire County Council also has to agree a way forward.

If the contract were terminated at this stage, then a payment of £3 million could be due to the contractor.

It is unclear why the York Council was forced into making a decision today with minimal notice. The terms of the contract have been known for over 2 years.

Lendal Bridge – the unanswered questions

The Council claim to have published on their web site a complete list of answers given to question raised during their “twitter” Q & A session last week.

Problem is – they haven’t!

Amongst those still not answered are:

All York bus ticket sales figures finally released

12 months after a Freedom of Information request was lodged with the York Council, officials have finally revealed the number of “All York” bus tickets that have been sold.

This was the product launched in July 2012 which allowed passengers to purchase one £5 day ticket which could be used on any bus operating in the York area.

When launched, the Council said that it would spend £20,000 of taxpayer’s money advertising the availability of the ticket.

They would also use administrative staff to allocate, the fare revenue collected, to individual bus operators.

all york ticket

It was this taxpayer’s subsidy which prompted a request that the number of tickets sold be publicised. The Council declined to do so saying that it was “commercially confidential”.

It took an appeal to the Information Commissioner to force the release of the information.

In March the minutes of a Council bus consultative meeting had suggested that “All York” ticket sales were around “10,000 a quarter”.

In reality it turns out that sales are only about ¼ of that figure.

The total number of tickets sold stands at 10,425 which represents a tiny proportion of the 16 million local bus journeys made each year.

It looks like taxpayers have subsidised each ticket to the tune of £2.

Many people thought that the Council should have prioritised the introduction of a smartcard which would allow cross operator ticketing at negligible cost.

Steve Galloway – who first raised the issue – says, “There is nothing contained in the figures that threatens the commercial interests of bus companies. The very low sales do suggest though that the Council miscalculated very badly the number or passengers who would take advantage of a scheme which has proved to be an unnecessary burden on taxpayers.

I hope in future that the Council will be more open with bus users about service information.

They have been withholding facts about bus service reliability for over a year.

I would like to think that they would adopt a more positive approach to information sharing in the future”

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“Taxi for James” as York Council credit card used to fund £180 pedicure

pedicure-large

The Sunday Times is reporting today that a York Council credit card has been used to pay for a £180 pedicure.

Apparently the money was spent on the feet of “disadvantaged” youngsters to improve their “self esteem”

Meanwhile James Alexander has published more details of his travel expenses.

They include a £12 taxi ride to Terry’s to take part in a “photo shoot”.

Residents living in the Bishopthorpe Road area may feel that use of a bus would have been more appropriate.

Taxpayers living in the rest of the City might tell the Leader to follow the example of his predecessors and use some of his £30,000 a year salary to fund trips within the City.

Labour cut waste collection, road maintenance, community centres, libraries, elderly persons homes, ice clearance, job training and Social Services.

Cuts to street level services click to enlarge

Cuts to street level services click to enlarge

Labour’s hopelessly misjudged Council budget proposals are set to be approved tonight. Cuts to all front line public services are planned yet

Labour also intend to retain a £1 million a year “slush fund” which is used to pay for a range of inessential “vanity” projects.

The £1 million this year has been used to pay for lighting and firework displays, free WiFi access in the City centre, a plan to open the Bonding warehouse as a “digital media hub”, building design competitions, an “innovation catalyst” programme; not to mention the occasional foreign travel trip.

More waste is evident in the Councils capital programme where commitments to introducing an unnecessary Citywide 20 mph speed limit and the purchase of a barge for use as an arts centre have seen interest payments, on borrowed money, double since Labour took control of the Council.

Abandoning these “vanity” projects and making good use of the reduced running costs (down by £375,000) of its new HQ would allow the Council to restore many of the most damaging cuts.

Labour’s key proposals would see:

A 1.9% hike in Council tax levels (despite central government offering to underwrite the costs of a freeze)

• Privatisation or outsourcing of leisure/swimming pool management the Warden Call service and the “Sheltered housing with extra care” service. Even the Mansion House will be commercialised

Grants to Museums Trust cut by £100,000, the Theatre Royal by £101,000 with similar % cuts other voluntary sector bodies

• At a time when people are rightly worried following revelations about meat quality, trading standards faces a £42,000 cut, while there will be less air quality monitoring.

• There will be less for job training as Future Prospects loses £150,000

• The closure of elderly persons homes will be brought forward meaning that some residents face double moves before new accommodation is completed. In 2014 pensioners will face a 90p charge when using their passes on Park and Ride services

Disabled facilities at Greenworks and Brunswick Nursery cut by £50,000 Supported employment budget cut by £200,000 forcing disabled people into “mainstream employment”

Social Service clients with personal budgets will lose out from a £500,000 budget cut

Looked after children – basically those with foster parents – face a £700,000 cut with another £400,000 to come off in 2014.

Respite services get a £50,000 reduction.

Children’s centres face a £128,000 cut in 2014

• The toy library bus will scrapped in 2014

Some reductions in expenditure were inevitable.

Labour have simply chosen to economise on the wrong services.

Meanwhile there are some concerns about the likely quality of tonights Council debate