Owl wonders how it would have been treated if it had not been a Tory council …
Its audit bill has ballooned:
“In its final audit report released this week, auditor KPMG said delays have been caused by the slow and patchy provision of information by the council and departures of key staff at the authority.
The extra work caused by the delays would more than quadruple its original fee of £71,250, it said.
The report said: “We stated during the audit committee on 26 November 2018 that this had now risen, at that date, to approximately £300,000 in total (i.e. including original scale fee).”
http://www.room151.co.uk/funding/delays-cause-northampton-audit-bill-to-balloon/
and
It is being allowed to raise an extra 2% on council tax without the (legal) need to hold a referendum:
“The council had already proposed raising council tax by 2.99%, the maximum amount it could do before holding a local vote.
The final settlement stated: “For 2019-20, the relevant basic amount of council tax of Northamptonshire County Council is excessive if the authority’s relevant basic amount of council tax for 2019-20 is 5% or more than 5% greater than its relevant basic amount of council tax for 2018-19”. …
When classified as “excessive”, a local authority must hold a referendum on its proposed tax hike.
In November, in a bending of the rules by the government, Northamptonshire was given permission to use £70m of capital receipts to help balance its budget.
The final statement otherwise largely confirmed what was contained in the earlier provisional settlement in December, with core spending power rising by 2.8% in cash terms from £45.1bn in 2018-19 to £46.4bn in 2019-20.
In real terms this is almost a freeze.”
http://www.room151.co.uk/funding/northamptonshire-thrown-a-lifeline-again/
East Devon Watch 