CONSERVATIVES claim spending plans for Harrow are “without substance” and criticise the lack of money-saving mergers of the council's administrative functions.
Leading Tories say savings proposed by Labour for 2011/12 are simply 'salami slicing', whereby individual budgets are reduced bit by bit, rather than the wholesale radical changes needed to curb spending, and highlight the Trading Standards services the council jointly funds with Brent Council as an example.
“They have put in a 'savings' figure of £200,000 without any substance and that's just one sum I can pick out,” said opposition leader Councillor Susan Hall.
“It's something they haven't decided on yet – is it a saving because they are bringing the service back in-house or are we going to stop paying Brent?"
Fellow Tory councillor Paul Osborn said: "And there's no detail on the cumulative effect on the service if Brent decides to reduce its contribution.”
Mr Osborn said it was mistake to not plough any extra money in to the adult social services department during the next four years specifically to cope with an ageing population, suggested a £20,000 increase in the mayor's budget was unnecessary and pointed out Labour was planning to scrap a tourism officer post despite a manifesto commitment to preserve it.
However, opposition leader Councillor Susan Hall said the whole budget is based on the wrong underlying economic assumptions - and so considering various ways to save money is “like re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic”.
Mr Osborn explained: “You're not fooling anyone by saying inflation is two per cent. “The governor of the Bank of England is talking about 5 per cent and commercial forecasts for banks is 4 per cent next year so that's an extra £2million saving you need to find if you're wrong and have to cover the difference: each £1million extra in inflationary costs is equivalent to a 1 per cent increase in council tax.
“Some other councils have assumed 2 per cent but they have far great resources than us that they can dip in to.”
Both Mr Osborn and Ms Hall said the council should be looking to consolidate its back office functions with other cash-strapped public bodies.
“These partnerships can save you money but don't reduce the level of front line services,” said Mr Osborn.
“But such deals take years to do and if Labour had started discussions in May, we could have made savings in 2011/12.
“Even if they start now you won't be able to make savings until next year.”
Council leader Bill Stephenson (Labour) said he would rather not comment until after full budget papers are published on Thursday ahead of next week's cabinet committee meeting on the matter.
