Budget Night - Some facts

So the first ever Conservative Budget in Harlow has been passed.

It was not the budget we wanted, and it was not an easy thing to do, but as I have discussed here previously it was something that had to happen to put the council on a firm footing again.

But lets remember some important things that this council had to deal with first:

• £860,000 Difference between the grant for Gordon Brown’s “free” bus passes and the actual cost.
• £500,000 Labour Government’s ‘Gershon efficiency’ savings the Council must find.
• £3,000,000 Every year, to top up the pension fund after Gordon Brown’s 1997 Smash and Grab raid.
• £196,000 Loss of Planning Delivery Grant. o £140,000 Loss of LABGI grant
• £346,000 Forced Labour Government transfer to Housing Revenue Account
• £750,000 Extra years of pensions granted by previous Labour Councils.
• £177,000 Cost of 30 Redundancies made in Labour/Liberal’s 08/09 Budget.
• £400,000 Inflation cost, catered for by Labour Government,
• £250,000 Repay insurance fund, after Labour/Liberal "borrowing".
• £50,000 Repay earmarked reserves “borrowed” to prop up Labour/Liberal 08/09 budget
• £20,000 Cost of implementing Labour Government’s “International Financial Reporting Standards”£860,000

Thats a total of £6,512,000 to be found before one pound is spent on services for the people of Harlow.

That’s £83.49 for each person (including children) in Harlow this year before paying for real services.

The true Legacy for Harlow of the Labour and Liberal run administrations, and the Labour Government.