As we are expecting to discuss much of what would be on here in an interview on the 8th we will not be publishing details of our understanding of this issue here until after that has happened so as to avoid giving other political groups talking points. Our estimate for when this will become fully available is would be late Tuesday the 8th or sometime on Wednesday the 9th. Until then there will be a short section with explanations of a few points below and you can download a copy of the FAQ leaflet with basic details of the issue at the bottom of the page. If not please check back on the 9th when we hope to have this page ready.
Size of the bankruptcy and the effects on council tax
Woking is, as stated in our FAQ leaflet, bankrupt multiple times. The numbers that the council was using at the peak of the debt (some of the debt has now been paid off) was that the town has an income of £14 million and pays an interest of around £65 million. From these numbers you can estimate that the town is bankrupt four or five times. Despite this not being the entire picture with regard to income and expenses for the council, there are also services it is legally required to pay for and income from properties it owns, it is a reasonable estimate for how many bankruptcies the council has gone through.
As the council tries to sell off property to make the money it needs to pay off the debt bare in mind that the regular income the council receives from the properties it owns will go down, because it is selling properties it is renting out.
We have been told that the council tax needed to be raised by the maximum amount allowed (10%) to help deal with this debt. A 10% increase in the £14 million tax revenue going to the council gives it around £15.4 million per year, an change that barely makes any difference given the size of the interest payments.
Government intervention and commissioners
The government, as the body that guarantees all debts of local councils get paid, has assigned commissioners in response to the section 114 notice that the council declares. A lot has been said about how much these commissioners are costing Woking, but very little has been said about what their job actually is. These commissioners are there to advise Woking Borough council on how to get out of debt, however they are also a method by which the government can exert control over the council.
By having the commissioners in place the government has a greater degree of control over what decisions the council takes. When people are confused as to why the council is not making the choices that the promised they would when campaigning for election, this is one of the reasons. Since the decisions the commissioners are affecting cover choices about payments and sale of council property they have a huge effect on multiple areas of the council’s running. As the council has it’s hands tied on many important decisions they should be honest enough with the residents for everyone to understand that there is no number of seats on the council that any one party can have that would allow them to make any decision from their election promises.
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