Crematorium users "must not pay the price for Conservative mismanagement", warn Liberal Democrats

5.37.46pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th Jan 2008

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Chris Nelson

Users of Kettering Crematorium are to bear the brunt of filling a £100,000 'black hole' in the budget of Kettering Borough Council, Liberal Democrats have warned, as Conservative councillors prepare to consider draft budget proposals at an Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday evening.

The proposed rise in charges, which total £41,970 more than the increased cost of running the service, will take effect alongside what is widely expected to be another above-inflation rise in council tax.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Chris Nelson said, "Kettering Conservatives want to blame this budget on a poor financial settlement from the Government. Yet whilst this could be better, the truth of the matter is that had the Conservative not overspent last year's budget by nearly £230,000, these charges could have been avoided.

"With this proposal coming in the same year that Labour and Conservative councillors voted to increase their allowances by nearly £32,000, many people will find it difficult to accept that crematorium users should be the ones to foot the bill. They must not be made to pay the price for financial mismanagement."

ENDS

Notes:

1. The detail of the draft budget for 2008/9 can be downloaded here: http://www.kettering.gov.uk/downloads/Section_1_1_.xls.

2. Calculation of crematorium fees: A £50,000 increase is proposed to crematorium fees in this budget (under "BVACOP Services", row 418). This is £41,970 more than the increase in total crematorium expenditure (row 416).

3. Calculation of £100k 'black hole': In addition to the crematorium fees, it is proposed that £45,900 be taken from Council reserves (under "Global Summary", line 12). Finally, summary figures for the budget indicate that this still leaves a budget deficit of £12,000 (under "MTFF", line 3). These three figures total £99,870, which is rounded to £100,000.

4. Calculation of 2007/8 overspend: Kettering Borough Council spent £226,020 more on services in 2007/8 ("Revised 2007/8" column) than was originally budgeted ("Original 2007/8" column). This can be seen under "Global Summary" on line 11.

5. Calculation of increase to councillors' allowances: On 27th June 2007, a meeting of Full Council voted to increase the councillors' basic allowance by £887 (from £3,548 to £4,435, see http://www.kettering.gov.uk/downloads/x8_b.xls for details). For all 36 councillors, this totals £31,932. All but one councillor present (Cllr. Derek Zanger) voted to approve the increase (see http://www.kettering.gov.uk/downloads/mins_40_.doc, item 07.C.26. part (ix)).