Shropshire Council faces budget gap
Saturday 18th June 2011, 11:30AM BST.
The cost of office moves and refurbishments at Shropshire Council’s headquarters, including a new suite for chief executive Kim Ryley, has gone over budget by more than £400,000, it was revealed today.
The figure, contained in a report to the authority’s audit committee, comes after councillors agreed for all staff at the authority to take a 5.4 per cent pay cut to help save £7 million over the next three years.
Union chiefs vented their anger in December when it was revealed that £85,000 was being spent on new offices for staff at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury, including for Mr Ryley.
Patricia Wilson, branch secretary of Shropshire Unison, said the amount was “despicable” but officials defended the scheme.
Mr Ryley said he had acted to cut the cost of the refurbishments by half as the council was said to be “conscious of the need to be sensitive” in the current financial climate.
However, the new report shows that office moves and refurbishment have resulted in a £421,000 overspend.
The report says: “The increase in overspend is due to the costs of Shirehall redevelopment and removal costs for other office moves around the county in order to rationalise the accommodation held by the council and further reduce costs.”
Other big overspends in the past financial year included £1.5 million extra spent dealing with the problems caused by the severe weather last winter.
Council officials say this was due to the demand on its gritting vehicles – with more than double the amount of turnouts required than originally budgeted for.
Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of the council, said the office plan would provide a long-term cost benefit. He added: “The overspend was not just on that site, it was moving people round. The offices will pay for themselves in the long-term.”
Mr Barrow said that since his administration had taken over at Shirehall there was now much tighter control of overspending.
He said: “If anyone overspends it’s taken out of their next year’s budget.”
Overall the council’s total overspend, taking into account underspends in other areas, was £517,640, which has been described by councillors as a “fantastic achievement”.
By Russell Roberts
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If it was furniture then you can bet it was not really needed have they heard of recycling?.Nice big chairs nice big desks and always the dearest picked ,lets see the items purchased etc etc absolute disgrace.
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Could they really be more out of touch when staff are taking pay cuts and losing their jobs?
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So, that is twenty-five percent off the value of my house.
£400,000 over budget on council office furniture.
Twenty-five percent across the board cut in public services.
Interest rates at 0.5 percent whilst inflation runs at 4.5 percent.
£500,000 annual black hole in Theatre Severn’s budget and we have to pick through our waste and separate it so that you only have to come around and pick it up and sell it on to a scrap dealer at a profit for yourselves?
All of this is going on as you put a wrecking ball through the last state school in the town, the Wakeman.
I shall be looking forward to a twenty-five percent reduction in my council tax contributions shortly, along with an itemised bill before I impose one, coupled with a FOI request.
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sack a couple of executives, recoup the money instantly, simple’s
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Once again the people at the top in Shropshire Council both executives and councillors show how out of touch they are with their staff.
Perhaps in these austere times they should have used the Shriopshire Furniture recycling scheme.
The councillors say the 5.4% cut is for all staff, is this from the Cheif Executive downwards or are they being exempted?
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Disgraceful. None of it was money that needed to be spent so that is 485k that should have gone on services for the people of Shropshire and protecting jobs. As a council worker I cannot express how sad and angry this makes me
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hey ho, it’s only our money they are spending…out of touch with the real world as always.
Can’t anyone stand up to these thieves and tell them to stop wasting OUR money?
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how the eck can they go nearly half a million pounds over budget? and why spend money they havent got?
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Simple. The £85,000 was only the cost of constructing the management suite. Staff were told they were being moved with only a couple of days notice. No office space had been prepared for them so they had to be crammed into smaller offices. Over 100 staff were moved and the cost of moving them was not budgeted for. The effect ofthe move had a knock on effect across the Shirehall hence the half million overspend.
Shortly after building the senior management suite, half the corporate management team were done away with. This project was a farce and at a time of tight finances was totally unecessary.
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I take it they haven’t heard of IKEA or any other budget furniture place Disgraceful waste of money.
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Pray I wonder what was wrong with the previous incumbents suite. Not good enough for the new man. The mind boggles. When is this flagrant waste going to stop.
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Just another example of why no one has any faith in public bodies like councils who think they can do what they like. If this was a private business, every penny would be accounted for properly and if not then heads would roll. We have a chief exec who earns more than the prime minister and probably more than any of the residents and local company directors who pay the local taxes that fund the council. At the same time these bloated organisations, ( and Shropshire isn’t the only one ), feel it acceptable to grab ever more money from individuals and businesses in the form of car park charges and raising the values of business rates despite the fact that property has fallen in value and people are earning less now than a few years ago in real terms. Any cuts they say they are making are simply lipservice, they can and should do better and stop asking the real workers who do real jobs to constantly pay for their extravagant behaviour.
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Yet again the ‘don’t care about the masses lot’ buy their lovely plush offices and fill them with unnecessary equipment so that they feel so important. Why not ask their colleagues to take a 10 per cent pay cut so
jacuzzis, indoor swimming pools and cocktail bars can be installed, like all public service managers they have no idea of the real world. And to defend the massive overspend is incredulous, the people involved in this should resign en masse and put in the stocks in the Square and pelted with the little food we have left.
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Well, if they can not do the new offices without overspending, how are the going to run this county, Its just a joke, should sack the chief over seeing this not the real workers.
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This story is utterly unbelieveable.
A remote unitary authority, which cost us all God knows how much to set up in the first place in severance payments made to senior offcials of the now defunct district local authorities. A unitary authority which is presently seeking to make staffing cuts, freeze staff salaries and closing down primary schools and other services across the county, all to save money.
In fact the total overspend was £517,640 – which (as reported in the Shropshire Star) was described by councillors as a “fantastic achievement”.
An utter disgrace, but recently having seen displayed, at close quarters, the low calibre of some of our self serving pompous councillors, sadly, this situation comes as no great surprise
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This and the councillor’s 100% increase in allowances 3 yrs ago is a scandal.
I believe the offices have been fitted with glass screens for example, a very expensive product as most of us know.
Oh dear £315,000 over budget a bit like the Severn Theatre,£32 million, Darwin Gate, £60,000, Quantum Leap, £600,000.
All more than 50% over initial estimates and budget.
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incompetent and outrageous waste of public money
who is the responsible financial officer for this shambolic organisation?
oh yes right its the cheif executive, yet again making the headlines for all the wrong reasons
ryely must go
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Nice to see our hard earned money is being spent wisely LOL, and councillors are in agreement for their staff to take a pay cut, has anyone asked the staff how they feel. What cut are the councillors making in their expense claims?
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I’d like to call for a public inquiry into the current administrations appalling conduct and policy decisions. Millions are being wasted due to the incompetency of the leadership. Those responsible for unnecessary projects such as the town museum and the school closures debacle (only two examples of many) should be held to account. And all while public services across Shropshire are being hammered!
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what a waste of money they are
2 grand a year they take from me and they dont even empty the bin every week!
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The creation of the management suite was a vanity project. All directors were based at tne Shirehall a short walk apart. Over 100 staff were moved into crampt offices and only given a couple of days notice. The £85,000 did not need to be spent and the chaos caused impacted the work of the council. Movements in staff, again ill thought through, from Local government reorganisation has lead to half empty offices across the county. I think an audit commission enquiry is called for.
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leather chairs i bet!
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omg
out of touch or what!
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living the life of Ryley!! on taxpayers money
shame on these bloated public sector managers with their gold plated pensions and cushy hours they need a dose of private sector reality
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Whats wrong with second hand furniture ?
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there should be claw back mechanisms built into these contracts to prevent overspend and that includes with the cheif executives bonus package. If he overspends on his new furniture simply take it out of his bonus package. These fat cats are like bankers they get bonus payments when they suceed fair enough but when they fail, why no fines or pay cuts then ?
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Easy to make numbers look shocking (and they do!) but I hope the Shropshire Star are going to put in a FOI request for a breakdown of costs. It would be interesting to see exactly what that money was spent on.
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is that the sound of my hard earning money being burned again?
the b^&*^*! council get my goat
when will they learn to stop spending?
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put simply in the private sector these managers would just have been sacked for overspending on this project
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