Latest cuts show "Scanner" was right

It's not that long ago that the council leader was chortling because the borough had escaped any financial losses associated with the Icelandic bankruptcy fiasco - and we remarked at the time that perhaps this was just as well given the BBI's ability to waste money in other areas, such as the Princess Royal Sports Arena. Now we learn that the borough's deficit has leaped by £200,000 in just a month, and is hovering near the million pound mark.
This has led to yet another round of proposed savings, including squeezing the opening hours of the Guildhall and the ludicrous Haven Gallery still further to generate another £13,000. Why not simply mothball both places for the winter, and put the Tourist Information Centre somewhere that people can find rather than continue with these salami slices?
Other savings include £193,000 in vacancies (sounds like a few redundancies wouldn't go amiss here) and cutting funding to the Boston Area Regeneration Committee (we often wonder precisely what this is as it seems little other than a sponge for soaking up money) and £35,000 in maintenance.
According to the local papers, Boston's cabinet member for finance Councillor Richard Lenton has listed one of the main areas of concern as reduced income from bereavement services.
If we recall, this is an issue repeatedly raised by our contributor "Scanner," who predicted that raising these costs could mean problems.
He wrote: "Last year crematorium and cemetery charges were hiked to try and fill this year’s council spending black hole and, at the same time, a new crematorium opened in Alford. At that time, I warned that both of these moves could affect our business. Have they done so, and if so, by how much?"
A good question, but one which we doubt anyone at the council will be willing to answer.

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