CITY COUNCIL
By G. W. Morland

There used to be a time when (city council leader) Chris Williamson had entertainment value, like the time he claimed spending vast sums of cash in Normanton would make it a tourist attraction. How we laughed! To date, I have not seen one Oriental or American gentleman charging about, shooting off reel after reel of film, let alone busloads of them. You can imagine how sad I was to read his recent letter in which he tries to justify the latest of a long string of inflation-busting council tax increases by what is, by his standards, rational arguments. Ignoring the statistics, let us look below the surface of this murky financial rock pool at two of its many sources of income.

A council's income is greater than the revenue raised by direct taxation. There are many stealth taxes that show enormous increases, two such examples being an almost 300 per cent increase in a public entertainment licence rising from £7.50 to £20. Then there is the double hitting service cuts. This is a wonderful method of saving money and completely conceals overspending. The way it works is that the council takes a service, runs it into the ground and then sells it off. Housing and care for the elderly are two examples. Vast areas of housing have been turned into ghettos of poverty and lawlessness and subsequently bulldozed or sold to housing associations with homes for the elderly also bulldozed and sold to developers.

This way, the council saves on providing a service and also obtains vast sums from the sale, while denying the citizens of the county their valuable assets. If the developer can make a profit from such sites, why cannot the council? The good councillor's excuse is an increase in the police budget, but wasn't that the excuse previously? When given the chance, the ordinary beat officer does a dangerous job wonderfully. However, in recent years, he has become an unpaid tax collector for the Government, with more police officers on Traffic Street during the day than is ever witnessed on residential streets at night.

The list of abuse of power by our council is endless and we all witness tight lipped its disregard for the public. But rest assured, Councillor Williamson, some of us retain the ability to see both the wood and the trees.