Claire Kober's State of the Borough Address

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Permalink Reply by matt on February 11, 2009 at 7:26

To highlight;

1.Growing fears about the credit crunch, the extent of the economic downturn, and job uncertainty are all pressing issues which are preoccupying many of those in the borough.

As a local council we need to meet this challenge head on.

Council has announced £10m cost savings including cutbacks in council employment (ie. job losses)

2. We continue to deliver strong economic regeneration programmes tackling worklessness. Through the Haringey Guarantee, our Apprenticeships Programme and Families into Work, over 200 people, many facing significant barriers into employment, have been helped into work since September 2006.

Does she (Labour) really see this as significant; 200 people over two and a half years?!

3. Because of these efforts to make the Council more efficient we are able to propose a Council Tax increase of 1.95% for the coming year.

Why don't they concentrate on collecting unpaid council taxes (some 5 millions!) instead on piling on increases in difficult economic times to the few that pay their council taxes?

4. We have to promote as members a culture and Council which is comfortable with change and open to change and open to the challenges we face.

'Open to change' ... start by getting this msg out to more people in the borough. It might be a speech full of political back slapping, quoting questionable polls but it does outline spending priorities, major schemes (eg. housing) and the new council tax increase! Try a video on youtube for starters.

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Permalink Reply by Danzigger on February 11, 2009 at 8:47

I'm not sure I understand how the policies above relate to tackling the problems created by the credit crunch and the global economic downturn:
as banks are increasingly unwilling to lend money to private individuals and small companies, the general opinion seems to be that it is the responsibility of government bodies to spend more money (by investing in infrastructure and creating jobs) and to charge less (by reducing taxes), even if this means borrowing large sums against future revenue. This is the course of action being pursued by The U.K, The U.S., the E.U etc.
Perhaps Haringey Council has better economic advisors?

I certainly agree that chasing unpaid council tax should be a priority.

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