How would you spend £739,832.40?
One thing which does not appear to have been considered in Cornwall Council's Star Chambers is how much money might be saved by reducing the number of councillors.
The paid to each and every one of the 123 members is £12,128.40. Reducing the size of the council to, say, 62 councillors would therefore save at least £739.832.40. (I've suggested halving the size of the council because that's roughly how many members bothered to respond to an official survey on council car parking in Cornwall.)
One good thing to emerge from the Star Chambers is a menu-with-prices. We now know, for example, that £46,000 of council taxpayers' money is spent on attending the Royal Cornwall Show - and yet the Star Chambers thought this was worth saving.
Is being at the Show really more of a priority than keeping rural bus subsidies? There are choices to be made. And if you halve the size of the council you could save the leisure centres and libraries and still have change.
It will be fascinating to see what, if any, amendments are tabled before the budget is finally voted through next month.
I'm ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Devon’s Graham Smith, blogging on news, views and some fresh insights into West Country life, particularly the way government works locally and nationally.
Comment number 1.
At 25th Oct 2010, mikej wrote:Having worked at the Council for a number of years i found there to be a core of good quality members with an understanding of the issues and scale of works involved. There was however another cohort of useless seat warmers who served no visible purpose and had no intellectual capacity, across all political groups althought the independants were in general poorest.
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Comment number 2.
At 25th Oct 2010, gladner wrote:perhaps the best way to save money would be to cancel the Scillies terinal, the stadium for Cornwall, tarting up county hall, which is more than enough for the cuts.
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