Farsighted BBI saw

cuts coming!

Boston Borough Council’s cabinet (pictured left)meets tonight to fix its budget, a session that is accompanied by a host of indecipherable documents which we are sure cannot be understood by anyone other than the most accomplished.
Ahead of the meeting, council leader Richard Austin has coincidentally gone to press on the BBI blogsite to claim yet another masterpiece of prescience following the last cabinet meeting three weeks ago which discussed cutting staff costs.
“Considerable savings will have to be made, but advance planning and staff co-operation has meant that very few, if any, council workers in Boston will be made redundant," he writes.
“Over the last two years we have anticipated these cuts. The senior management has been halved and vacancies have not generally been filled. As a result we are able to maintain vital services in Boston, and do not have to find massive redundancy payouts like so many other councils.”
Not for the first time, this is a BBI claim which we find hard to believe.
The global financial crisis started in September 2008, and from what Councillor Austin is claiming, the BBI realised the awesome implications within a matter of months, and set out on a path to minimise their effects.
This was well before the general election, and well before any of the major political parties had produced any public assessment of the impact on the UK.
We think its fair to say that the coalition government didn’t really get its act together on public service cuts until after Councillor Austin claims that his merrie band had not only figured out what needed to be done, but had gone ahead and done it.
If only Gordon Brown had offered the BBI seats in a real cabinet, the world might well have been a totally different place.
Among the copious reports to today’s cabinet meeting is a list of priorities.
These include providing better services with less money, sharing opportunities and responsibilities, and “a successful Borough, a great past, an exciting future.”
The first of these is achievable; a major opportunity to achieve the second has already been allowed to slip through the council’s fingers, and the third is nothing less than ephemeral sloganising – what do you mean, your priority is “a successful Borough, a great past, an exciting future?”
Our credulity was stretched still further by some of the “values” listed for achievement.
Being “open and honest with people” is the first. We don’t know about honesty – but the council fails to be open almost on a daily basis.
“Open to new ideas and willing to learn.” We’ll believe it when we see it.
A double whammy - “caring and to treat people with respect, consistency and fairness” is followed by “patient with people and take time to understand their concerns.”
This depends on the context – but we know of several instances where the BBI has turned a deaf ear to valid concerns of both councillors and members of the electorate.
The budget setting comes at an historic moment, as a report tells us that since November 1999, the council’s capital resources have mainly come from the disposal of its housing stock.
“These resources have now all but been consumed and the council needs to consider how its future capital requirements can be financed.”
It is a sad reflection on administrations past and present that they have allowed twelve years to elapse and for the reserves to run dry without looking at how to generate more income in the interim.
And as far as redundancies are concerned, we hope that the BBI has not spoken too soon.
Staff turnover recently stood at 1.41%, when the council’s target was 10%.
A ten per-cent turnover gives room for savings by leaving vacancies unfilled, whereas 1.41 does not … and with no financial room to manoeuvre, we think that redundancies could still be on the cards.

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