‘Best value’ council fixers being paid £1,100 a day
Taxpayers to foot £300,000 bill for 8 commissioners in 3 months
THE eight government commissioners ordered in to oversee ailing Birmingham City Council have run up a bill of nearly £300,000 in just three months – and city residents will foot the bill.
The team, dubbed ‘Best Value Commissioners’, were sent in by local government minister Michael Gove to make sure the city’s councillors and officers came up with a viable recovery plan after its finances imploded last summer.
Seven of them are paid £1,100 a day for their efforts, while lead commissioner Max Caller gets £1,200 a day.
On top of that they also qualify for expenses, sustenance and hotel stays if needed. Every penny gets charged back to the beleaguered council, despite its desperate financial straits, and then comes from the shrinking budget pot that has just been subject to massive cuts.
The commissioners were in the council HQ watching on when the budget was being set ‘‘reluctantly’’ by councillors last week, including £150 million of cuts and savings to services, at least 600 job losses and a hike in council tax of 9.99%.
Cllr Miranda Perks (Lab, Weoley and Selly Park) highlighted that a failure to agree the budget would quickly trigger a full-blown takeover by the commissioners.
The council has now published how much was paid out to commissioners from the start of October to the end of December. It comes to a grand total of about £282,000.
That could mean the annual bill will top £1.1 million. It is believed the team will remain embedded for several years. Lead commissioner Max
Caller said on his arrival at the council that Brummies needed to brace for the impact of cuts, with at least “three hard years ahead”.
In a brief statement, commissioners said the day rates and expenses were determined by the secretary of state nationally and not specific to Birmingham City Council.
“In terms of value for money added by commissioners, over the course of the intervention the work the commissioners are doing will help put the council in a better financial position and enable it to deliver on its best-value duty.”
In terms of value for money added by commissioners... (the work) will enable the council to deliver on its best-value duty