The Leader of the Council last night failed to apologise to Brighton and Hove taxpayers for a catastrophic failure that lost local taxpayers £1.2 million and will now cause budget problems for years to come.
Conservative Group Finance Spokesperson Councillor Joe Miller asked the Council Leader to apologise to taxpayers for the extent of funding that had been lost by Labour in the Home to School Transport debacle.
At the Policy & Resources Committee meeting Labour asked for replacement funding to make up for £1.2 million it had lost to plug a hole in the scheme.
Councillor Miller said that local taxpayers had a right to be furious with the financial loss and that Labour would be judged harshly.
“This is obviously a huge budgetary commitment of a million pounds which the council is having to find to fix this mess.
“We sit around budget council scrambling for £50,000 a year to try and save children’s respite care and yet here this administration has thrown away a million pounds and counting.
“This £1.2 million pounds could have been used for many such worthy initiatives and a sum like this would have had the potential to raise up to £25 million to restore the much loved Madeira Terraces.
“This is a failure of epic proportions and I’d like to hear the leader of the council apologise for this mess.
“Clearly this is an example of poor contract management signoff in moving from what was in hindsight a perfectly fine system.
“If our service was so cheap and cost-effective in comparison to our neighbours previously, then why did this administration change it?
“Someone must be held accountable and the Council Leader should apologise to the people because it is going to affect our budget going forward quite substantially and it will be taxpayers that have to bear the cost of this Labour administration’s policy disaster.
“The Leader of the Council won’t take responsibility and apologise to the public for this failing. This is weak leadership” he said.
Cllr Miller said that the move to a new system would now cost taxpayers more in the long run.
“The figures make astonishing reading. Last year £2.3m was spent with a £500,000 overspend, which gives a total of £2.8 million.
“This year Labour is projecting a £3.6 million budget.
“These figures show that the Labour administration’s decision to continue using a Dynamic Purchasing System, which is more commonly used for ordering stationary supplies than running services, has increased costs by up to £800,000.
“Some of that may be as result of increased demand but I suspect not much of it.
“Is there an opportunity to let a contract on the old basis and stop using DPS? Is this being considered? That might reduce the revenue requirement and the administration needs to get a grip and answer these questions” Councillor Miller said.
Conservative Group Leader Steve Bell called for the matter to be considered by a scrutiny panel and for a breakdown to be provided which showed how the funding had been lost.
“It was good to hear that the Chief Executive Officer is now conducting his own investigation into this after admitting it was a ‘mistake’ made by the local authority” Cllr Bell said.
“A full explanation for what has gone on here must be provided and the matter needs to be fully examined by a scrutiny panel as well.
“I would like some assurances for the vulnerable and the parents of the most vulnerable that feel let down by this administration. I was concerned to hear from PaCC that they feel they were not consulted and left out.
“The financial incompetence of this Labour administration is making life more difficult for the taxpayers of Brighton & Hove who have to keep footing the bill for its mismanagement of programmes.
“While putting local taxes up, Labour has wasted £1.2 million and is now looking for further funds to plug the gap.
“This financial scandal keeps getting worse and worse and it is likely this administration will now once again look to put taxes up again next year to fund its overspend” he added.
ENDS.
