It’s the time of year and the meeting is to take place to set the budget for the next financial year from April 2023.
Why is this important to us?
Briefly the amount of money that is required in the budget is divided by the number of homes in Hemsworth, Kinsley and Fitzwilliam and variations to what each house pays are applied depending on which council tax banding the home is in.
The cost to each home is significant as this is on top of the precept charged by Wakefield Council.
We already know that significant investment is required to all areas of the township following 4 years of financial mismanagement by the Kenyon, Eccles regime, to restore the facilities to the good condition they were in 2019. From Sports grounds, the Waterpark, Heating systems and pedalos, to name but a few.
The reserves of cash, or rainy day money, are empty and are in need of replenishing to an acceptable level too.
These amounts of cash are additional to the normal running costs that were just under £800,000 last year.
There are ways that the budget can be kept down, none are ideal, from service cutbacks and job losses to staggering the remedial work over the next 4 years.
Not nice but all should be considered at the very least.
However, we need to remember that this community received an election pledge from the “Independents” that they were going to reduce our precept by £200,000 from the first year.
Ferret will do some maths, 4 x £200,000 is £800,000.
Wow amazing, we should have been looking at a precept free year!
On top of this we have the lakeside café/bar heading for total losses of approximately £500,000 since its creation, by April this year.
Until action is taken the losses will continue and probably grow in the current financial climate where spending money becomes even tighter.
So according to Jim Kenyon’s sums that will be more money to either spend or put back into this community, probably spend of course.
Hold on Ferret, you may be shouting, they are losses not profit, you can’t spend losses!
Jim Kenyon can, the mathematical genius that he is, has repeatedly spent the same money, even up to 3 times on more than one occasion.
He could even take on more litigation which according to him paid this community another half a million pounds and didn’t cost us nearly £200,000 in legal expenses or the loss of £300,000 social housing.
By Jim’s reckoning that’s another million pounds that should be available.
Ferret wonders if Saul Construction would like another round or two in the courts?
Perhaps the Eccles or any friends of friends, would like to return any money paid to them?
Perhaps Jimmy could dip into the tills again and make a donation.
Hemsworth Town Council: The Budget for 2023/24 – Is It Good News Week?
One way or another, Not on your life…
I do believe and on very good authority the total legal fees spent and wasted on non winnable ,vanity project court cases is a lot ,lot higher than this community knows.I am positive before May the true figures will come to light and that’s just on a certain councillors personal vendetta and his total utter disregard and abuse of our communities money.The 23/24 budget will be a glum picture and we can all predict who the Independant run HTC councillors will try to blame for their catastrophic ,financial mess in the years ahead but the first thing our community can do is come together and bring in the changes we so desperately need and VOTE ,VOTE ,VOTE for the councillors who will sort the mess out and serve this community and not themselves.
Well Julie, a lot will depend on your source having been honest in respect to this matter. I will however confirm that you have very good reason to believe the statement that you make. That said, as I have already written you are trusting that the information is credible.
Where HTC is concerned, that is sadly a leap of faith which I cannot take lol. But, isn’t this typical of the cloak and dagger politics that we appear to be blessed with. I personally am losing faith in even the best of them now. I really hope that you decide to stand in the future.
Regards
David
David I completely agree with you. I believe there is some ‘leaking’ of information from councillors to garner favour with community members. As you say is the information credible? Somehow I doubt it and like you have lost faith in the false promises made by some councillors and indeed the ‘support’ which occasionally is offered from some WMDC staff. Take everything with a pinch of salt.
Any member of the public can obtain and request the total fees or financial spendager of the HTC,no leakage required from any councillors all the public need to do is bombard the Town Clerk Alan Draper with FOIs for all the details .It’s only by the community asking,querying and challenging what’s going on that answers can be obtained,whether they are truthful ,honest answers and figures only time will tell as David and I know.The community have a right to see what our precept money is being spent on,the community have a right to speak up about how our precept is being totally wasted and the most and very important thing to remember is our community have the right to bring in change and to do this we must VOTE,VOTE,VOTE the money wasting Independants out in May.