Bid to bank £185,000 surplus fails
You would think finding an extra £185,00 in your pocket was good news, but it caused some fierce wrangling in the Town Hall when Maidstone councillors argued over what to do with it.
At the end of the 2017/18 financial year the borough ended up with an unexpected surplus - thanks mostly to bigger than expected receipts from parking charges.
The Conservative members of the policy and resources committee were in favour of squirrelling the money away in reserves, which might help reduce any Council Tax increase next year.
But the other parties favoured spending £80,000 of the windfall this year, and only tucking away £105,000.
They proposed spending £40,000 engaging a new heritage and culture officer on a one-year contract, who would boost support for the museum and other heritage projects.
They also wanted to spend £10,000to find ways to expand nature reserves, extend existing Area’s of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or create a new one for the Greensand Ridge. Finally, there was a proposal to spend £30,000 to investigate ways of improving air quality.
Cllr John Perry (Con) said he was not against any of the projects in principle but was con- cerned that the council was “acting like a bunch of punters who had had a good day at the races” in its dash to spend the money.
Cllr Val Springett ( Con) agreed. She said: “We seem to be rushing into this”
But Cllr Malcolm McKay (Lab) said: “We can either talk more, or do more.” before proposing a motion to spend the £80,000 as allocated. His motion was passed by eight votes to seven.
Tory group leader Cllr Perry said afterwards: “We are disappointed councillors chose to pursue their own pet projects without any detailed justification.”