Surrey Lib Dems Highlight Budget Failings

The Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council today opposed the ruling Conservative administration's budget proposals, criticising them as short term and lacking in foresight.

The group accepted the proposed council tax rate rise of 4.4%, believing that increases need to be kept as low as possible to help Surrey residents including pensioners on fixed incomes.

Group Leader Hazel Watson strongly criticised the Tories for an ill-conceived budget which would see "unspecified service cuts that will emerge when we see the detail in a few months time," she said.

The issues highlighted by the Liberal Democrats, as one by one their group spokespeople stood up to speak, were an overall lack of long-term investment and a waste of tax-payers money which meant residents were being badly let down.

Said Hazel Watson, "This budget is bad news for Surrey residents - it is cutting support for disabled people and for older people living at home, it reduces investment in the maintenance of Surrey's roads and school buildings that will end up costing Surrey taxpayers more money in the long run," she said.

Despite a lack of transparency in the budget process - members did not receive the full financial report until late the day before the debate - the Lib Dems highlighted a number of areas where efficiency savings could be introduced. One was that Surrey County Council (SCC) spends between 1.5 and 2 times more on agency staff than directly employed staff carrying out the same job - in 2005/06 it spent £16 million on agency staff. Said Hazel Watson, "a reduction could be achieved through appropriate recruitment and retention policies, as well as key worker housing schemes. The Council could also save money on cutting its reliance on consultants - it is using 52 of them in this financial year, worth £3.2 million. This needs urgent review."

Transportation and highways maintenance has been a subject of much debate at SCC and Lib Dem spokesperson John Doran said this budget represented a clear reduction in investment. "The Council plans to spend less this year on the roads than it did last year and that is not acceptable," he said. "While we welcome the introduction of £1 million for flooding relief following Lib Dem calls for action on the subject, there has been no indication where this money has come from - it's not 'new' money, therefore to fund it, something has to be cut. We're just not being given the full story."