Councils to loose millions? WTF!

[Finless]

It has been reported that a number of councils stand to loose millions upon millions due to having money 'invested' in Iceland's banks?

Apart from the concern about future funding for the affected councils this had better be "the second half of the year's budget" or else I'm going to really pissed off.

I thought every council in GB was whingeing about having insufficient funds to meet commitments and were cutting back services (certainly have in my area) only to now be shown up to have millions invested in overseas banks?

I rather work under a misunderstanding which allows me to be outraged but I suppose I ought to try and discover the facts. Well, when I say "I ought to discover" I really mean "could someone tell me", please?




http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4910126.ece

[SoggyFox]

I thought every council in GB was whingeing about having insufficient funds to meet commitments and were cutting back services (certainly have in my area) only to now be shown up to have millions invested in overseas banks?

quite possibly the reason the money is invested is to try and reduce the shortfall. They may have the money available but not required to actually spend it the moment the money is in the bank, think wages etc. They find a high interest account and whack it in there for the months they don't require it. They got sucked in as did all the public, If it looks too good to be true.........

[Paul Oliver]

And it looks like the clowns on Kent County Council have the most at £50 Million invested

[BigG]

Councils always winge about being poor if they admitted to having cash then they would come under criticism for all the bad / missing services in the area. Plead poverty and hide the cash.

It's also a good excuse to raise taxes too...

My favorite story. My uncle was invited to a dinner with the local council. During the meal the council members were discussing how to quickly spend£10k as they hadn't spent it yet, and if they didn't spend it then their budget would be cut by £10k next year. So they had to find a way to waste the money in order not to be "short" the following year.
what a silly budgeting system - budgets being based on what was spend the previous year not what is actually needed!!

The meal was very nice by the way adn the wine was not cheep.

Oh and ridiculously they couldn't just hand the money to the NHS or someome because the money wasn't budgeted for that purpose...

G

[Foggy]

Sorry to be pedantic, but if they loose millions wont that be a good thing?

Unless you meant lose millions which is quite different??

-Paul

[Finless]

Sorry to be pedantic, but if they loose millions wont that be a good thing?

Unless you meant lose millions which is quite different??

-Paul

Pedantic is good. I do know the difference but I don't know if the mistake was a typo or just not paying attention.

It does kind of ruin the meaning somewhat.

[Foggy]

Pedantic is good. I do know the difference but I don't know if the mistake was a typo or just not paying attention.

It does kind of ruin the meaning somewhat.

Not really, either meaning would have meant they've been stashing the cash and pretending to be hard-up

[chrisMc]

Its the standard goverment budgeting system, you have the money allocated in that budget year. If you dont spend it then it goes back to the pot. Also when next years budget is created they look at the previous years requirement, and its hard to justify keeping the smae amount.

Although this makes it easier for mangement purposes its pretty stupid as it always encourages inapprpirate spending.

All govement departments are conditioned to spend as much as possible, to justify having more.

[Monium]

Is it possible that some of these millions that have been invested are not purely standard 'spending money' for want of a better phrase (i.e. money for day-to-day council stuff like recycling, housing, etc), but could be monies invested for paying pensions of council workers?

I'm obviously speculating here, as I don't really have a clue about how the pension schemes are administered, but if that is a possibility, it's really bad news for anyone who's due to get a pension having worked for the council for years.

Amy.

[BigG]

Is it possible that some of these millions that have been invested are not purely standard 'spending money' for want of a better phrase (i.e. money for day-to-day council stuff like recycling, housing, etc), but could be monies invested for paying pensions of council workers?

I'm obviously speculating here, as I don't really have a clue about how the pension schemes are administered, but if that is a possibility, it's really bad news for anyone who's due to get a pension having worked for the council for years.

Amy.

Amy - pension money is not controlled at council level so what is at risk here is probably the money the council will need to fund projects and wages etc.

Pension money on the other hand is ring-fenced and kept away from those who would use the money for other uses (remember Robert Maxwell?).

Pension money is given to Pension Funds - who generally invest the money in stocks and shares and their lies another issue at the moment......

G