Recent Cabinet papers have shown that the Council will be recording an underspend of at least £2.5 million, and I understand that the figure is in fact much higher.  Until recently the Tories who ‘run’ Medway Council were predicting a multi-million pound overspend.  So whilst, this is clearly good news for the tax-paying public, it can be seen as no more than a ‘happy accident’ – in short, they don’t know what they are doing.
That can be seen in how they are planning to spend the money, with cash plugging holes in various schemes that the Tories have not budgeted for adequately.  The demolition of the old Council offices in Strood, including the Aveling and Porter building, is going to cost nearly twice what they were expecting, whilst they have also been ‘surprised’ that the public wish to use the new Council building at Gun Wharf and are belatedly improving the reception area at significant cost.
If the Tories cared, with such a large underspend, they could have used the money not to increase Council Tax this year – rather than the nearly 5% hike which is hitting residents who are already struggling with their finances in the face of the global economic recession.
The other option would be to invest this money in service provision, to protect and improve those that are under threat from this administration.
In recent weeks we have seen the Tories forced into a massive U-turn on meals on wheels charges.  The Tories had voted through an appalling increase of 40%, but have been forced by public pressure to limit it to 4%- the amount that Labour members proposed at the Council’s Budget meeting.
If they cared, the Tories could follow that up, by doing another U-Turn on those primary schools they are planning to axe because, they claim, they are too expensive to run!  Instead, the underspend could help those schools, all of which are popular and have good results, expand and go from strength to strength.