I am informed (reliably this time rather than the opposite) that the Levithan is getting ready to go back to its old bad ways. Mike Suarez, the very competent it has to be said Director of Finance and Resources, has instructed his officers to go through the scrutiny stage of the budget process which starts in September, with the view to finding any existing fat so that it can be chopped off. This is of course what a competent Director of Finance with statutory obligations has to do but the move this year could be linked to an anticipated demand from central government and with directives coming out from the Treasury and our 'darling' Darlings obsession (he should change his surname!) with eating away the public sector. It looks like we will be returning back to the decrees from the Town Hall and instructions to reduce costs from anything between 10% to 15% this will of course affect staffing levels and morale will be hit. I am just grateful that Mike Suarez who anticipated these problems before has kept some funds in reserve. The question is whether the reserve has been reduced dramatically because my Labour 'mates' wanted to keep the Council Tax level as low as possible. The battle will start soon and I am expecting the first wave of cuts sometime in January so we must be ready to deal with this.
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