Money talks - but what on earth is it saying?

It seems to be that the embrace of openness and transparency operates in some sort of arcane ratio to the volume and obscurity of the information being given out.

This is certainly the case with the issuing of Boston Borough Council’s statement of accounts for 2010-2011 – exactly 100 densely worded pages of information about the council’s finances,  which we are sure can only be understood by minority of people with professional knowledge.

For most of us – and we include many of the councillors whose job it is to try to make sense of this sort of thing – the report is meaningless, and cries out for a simplified, easy-to-read summary so that we humbler citizens of the borough can grasp where their money is being spent.

Try this for size: “The Council’s net asset position (or net worth) has increased from a negative position of -£8.2m to a positive £12.3m (See the Balance Sheet at p18). The main reason for this being a reduced deficit on the pension scheme from £32.4m to £16.8m (see note 41, page 75). This was partly due to the Government decision to ‘up-rate’ pensions in accordance with the Consumer Price Index rather than the Retail Price Index along with other changes in assumptions made by the funds actuary.

"The value of property, plant and equipment and investment property has also led to an increase in the value of Council assets of £3.6m; this is largely due to a change in estimates used by the Council’s valuers in line with professional practice. There have not been any significant impairments regarding property, plant and equipment during the year.”

What it appears to be saying is that the apparently huge change in Boston’s fortunes is largely due to adjustments on paper – and is therefore pretty well meaningless.

Far and away, the council’s biggest expense now is the payment of benefits, which are running at more than £22million – more than half of the total budget.

And given the promises made to sort out the problems of the Princess Royal Sports Arena, we are concerned about “a commitment to a reduced contribution in future to Boston Sports Initiative in relation to the operation of PRSA.”

One thing that people are always interested in is how much council bosses get for their labours -  and the report is helpful on this one.

Chief Executive Richard Harbord – who is not a direct employee - charges £600 a day for around 15 days’ attendance at Worst Street each month,  for which he  received £107,700.

His deputy received £79,249 - plus employer’s pension contributions of £19,064, making a grand total of £98,313, and the S151 Director – whose services we share with East Lindsey District Council – pulled in £80,616, which does not appear to take pension contributions into account.

Another line that we noted  was one that read: “Our commitment to empowering communities via the Placecheck  Project continues.”

This is where selected communities are persuaded that they want to use a windfall of £10,000 on things such as litter collection and bulb planting, whilst a further £10,000 heads in the direction of organisations like the borough council’s favourite charity – the  South Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service  - for  administering tasks that one might reasonably have expected Boston Borough Council to carry out – such as litter collection and landscaping.

Wheels within wheels ...  scratching each others’ backs? ... please excuse the disgraceful mixing of metaphors!

Perhaps a certain councillor might  mould a suitably worded  letter to the local “newspapers” about our choice of language.

Never mind – if we get strapped for cash, we could always sell Boston’s family silver.

Its collections of art, artefacts and civic regalia are valued at £1,425,000.

After all, so much has already either been given away, or leased off, that flogging a few trinkets can scarcely matter, can it?

  

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