I read David Ottewell’s post on the Manchester Budget Council Meeting with great interest. Not for the comedy typo, amusing as that was (for the record, the Salford Liberal Democrat budget statement managed to spell “February” incorrectly) but rather the amount in the Manchester City Council reserve pot. Let’s look at the figures:
Manchester City Council reserves 2008-9: ~£90 million
Salford City Council reserves 2008-9: £5.3 million
The figures speak for themselves. The reserves are there for a reason - to protect the Council (and more importantly, the residents of the City) against the unexpected, and we live in uncertain times. The economy nationally looks far from certain. Locally, the staff pay claim has yet to be settled, our Government grants for 2009/10 and 2010/11 are even worse than this year’s settlement, and the transfer of housing stock to City West Homes still carries huge financial risk if it is not completed on time.
Salford’s reserves were already dangerously low and our Labour administration intends to plunder them even further. This is sheer irresponsibility.
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