Evening Press Reader's Letter

I see Rodney Hills is once again testing the water with "leaks" about a prohibitive increase in council tax and closing of old peoples' homes to cater for a £4 million shortfall in council finances.

For several years now there has been an annual shortfall in the council's finances, amounting to several million pounds. I would like to ask Rodney Hills the following questions:

1What are the reasons for the current £4 million shortfall, and why was it discovered after only six months of the financial year had elapsed? This huge amount must have been identifiable at the beginning of the financial year. Does this not indicate extremely poor financial estimating and a complete lack of financial management?

2 Councillor Hills is always eager to accept the plaudits that go with his job, particularly the CBE, but when is he going to stand up and accept full responsibility for these annual deficits, and then identify and eradicate the causes?

I think it is reasonable to say that if this man worked in the private sector and had presided over repeated annual financial debacles of a similar magnitude, he would have been invited to resign years ago.

When Hills and his cronies are considering what cuts to make in the budget, rather than targeting the elderly and infirm, they should first be looking at the amount of their own expenses and the costs of the council's glossy propaganda and marketing machine.

Any cuts in these areas would certainly be welcomed by pensioners eagerly awaiting their 75p a week increase in April.

D Bryant,

Woodthorpe,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.