Left hands and right hands

From time to time we have raised a question or two about the Boston Improvement District and what it is - or more properly isn’t - doing to make Boston a better place. But our questions have paled into significance beside those being raised by Boston accountant Darron Abbott.
Recently, he made a Freedom of Information request to Boston Borough Council about its business relationship with Boston BID.
Here are some of the questions and answers.
Q. Do Boston Borough Council have a formal contract for the supply of administration services to the above company?
A. Boston Borough Council do not undertake any administrative functions on behalf of Boston BID. Boston Borough Council do however have a statutory obligation to collect the BID Levy on Behalf of Boston BID. The council is not paid for this service.
Q. Is the level of charges agreed with the above company per annum or charged on a hourly work done basis?
A. Boston Borough Council is not paid by Boston BID for collecting the BID levy.
Q. What amount was charged by Boston Borough Council to the above company in the year ended 31st March 2010?
A. There was no charge.

Pretty straightforward and unambiguous, isn’t it? Persistent questions receive unequivocal answers.
The fact that Boston Borough Council does not receive any payment for any service provided for Boston BID, caused some surprise, as there was no reason why it should not, and also raised the question of why council taxpayers should “subsidise” the BID.
Then came an additional response to Mr Abbott’s FOI request.
“Further to our recent response to your FOI request I am writing again to clarify some of the answers we provided.
“Boston Borough Council has a statutory obligation to collect the BID levy on behalf of Boston BID. In order to collect the BID levy Boston Borough Council was required to purchase additional computer software, which works alongside the existing Business Rates software. Boston Borough Council has a contract with Boston BID that allows them to recover the cost of purchasing this software and the annual licensing fee for operating it. This contract also permits the council to recover all costs incurred by the council associated with the collection of the BID levy.
“The contract between Boston Borough Council and BID permits Boston Borough Council to deduct the costs identified above from the BID levy collected.
“At the time of your FOI request Boston Borough Council had not yet deducted costs for the period ending 31st March 2010. The council has been working on calculating costs for the year ending 31st March 2010 and will recover costs for expenditure it has incurred in that period. “
So which reply do we believe?
Surely the council must do better than this in the interests of “openness and transparency.”

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PS: the weather for Bournemouth today is - dry with little or no cloud and plenty of sunny or bright spells. Temperatures average for early July with a maximum of 22c (68f). Winds gentle to moderate south-westerly. Have a nice day, Councillors Austin.