Is This Your Money Down The Drain?

This page is designed to inform the people of Kent of Council Tax payers money spent on areas which may not have a local authority statutory obligation or may just not be good value for money. The Lib Dem Group would like to know your views on what the money has been spent on and your thoughts on what the money could have been spent on instead.

• Forum - Does KCC Waste £££s.

• 'Your Views' - electronic form.

• Lib Dem County Councillors Contact Details.

£17.8MILLION for Highways Relocation

January 2006 capital accommodation investment approved £17,700,000 (net) to develop 3 super depots, these plans were revised in summer 2006 to relocate to 2 super depots and 2 satellite depots The net savings on revised programme was estimated at £3,400,000 with an annual revenue savings of £53,000. However the model requires significant investment in mobile technology and business systems, estimated at £3,700,000, so no net saving on the revised programme, infact an additional £300,000 investment.

£7.6MILLION spent on Failed Arts Project - Turner Contemporary One in Margate

This year £579,000 has been spent/committed in relation to the original Turner scheme. The vast majority (£450,000) relates to the final settlement with Edmund Nuttalls. It also includes the cost of fees for quantity surveyors and consultants advising on the final settlement, and preparing the case for litigation (£65,000) to attempt to recoup percentage of the £7,039,000 spent on the original Turner Contemporary concept. Adding the £579,000 and the £65,000 for litigation for this year, gives a grand total spend of £7,618,000 without a single brick laid!

And what of the 'new' Turner?

The 'new' Turner Contemporary had Paul Carter's personally imposed £15,000,000 ceiling on the capital costs. But already this risen by £2,400,000 to £17,400,000. The excuse that the £15,000,000 was not a ceiling at all but an estimate pre the appointment of the architects (David Chipperfield) and extras relating specifically to the condition of the site. To make Turner Contemporay happen KCC anticipates spending £859,000 revenue and £1,547,000 of the £17.4M capital in 2007-08.

£6.5MILLION on Publicity

When it comes to self publicity, KCC was the third highest spending Local Authority in England and Wales in 2006-07. Infact KCC expenditure on publicity had risen a whooping 367.4% over just 10 years, from £1,409,000 to £6,586,000!

Publicity spending is described as 'any communication, in whatever form addressed to the public at large or a section of the public'. So does £6.5M represent good value for money for the population of Kent?

For you to be able to make your own mind up, below are the publicity spend details for the 5 councils with the largest populations. The information provides details of each councils spend on publicity in 2006-07, the percentage increase over a 10 year period and their ranking for their publicity spending in 2006-07.

1. Greater London Authority, publicity spend was £5,163,000, % increase is not available, ranked 6th.

2. Kent, publicity spend was £6,586,000, an increase of 367.4% since 1996-97, ranked 3rd.

3. Essex, publicity spend was £4,322,000, an increase of 76.5% since 1996-97, ranked 12th.

4. Hampshire, publicity spend was £4,400,000, an increase of 75.5% since 1996-97, ranked 10th.

5. Lancashire, publicity spend was £3,451,000, a decrease of -3.0% since 1996-97, ranked 28th.

£1.2MILLION to Pilot Kent TV

£200,000 capital costs and £600,000 revenue costs to run a pilot Kent TV Station via Broadband. Will the pilot be successful? - a mere 589 viewers logged on to the KCC web cam to watch the Full Council Budget Debate on 22 February 2007. The Business Case, a breakdown of the costs and details of how the TV Station will become self funding are currently unavailable due to commercial sensitivity. Interestingly the figures for the broadcasting Medway Matter TV in the neighbouring Medway Unitary Authority are available - £5,864.36 for video journalist camera / days training for two Medway officers, £700 for software to edit the material and £10-£15 per month running costs for hosting on the website.

EU-Jet and Virginia Project £0.5Million

Two failed project in less than 3 years with losses of £408,559.56:

1. EU Jet / Planestation - total loss £110,00.00. In June 2004 KCC bought £100,000 shares in EU-Jet Ops Ltd. Planestation took over EU-Jet and the shares were converted into warrants in the company, KCC aloos invested an additional 15,000 (£10,000) Euros working capital in Planestation. Both investments of £110,000 were lost upon liquidation of the company

2. Charter flights to Virginia - KCC total losses £298,559.56. This can be broken down as £57,491 the cost of the consultancy fees for the initial feasibility study of Freudmann Tipple and £241,559.56 for the direct flights - to secure the hire of a plane and to market the flight programme and non-refundable. The losses to KCC represent 27% of the overall cost of the project of £783,000.

£229,999, KCC CEO REPORTEDLY HIGHEST-PAID COUNTY CHIEF

"High salary" pay from the public purse? The Chief Executive of Kent County Council oversees the largest council in Britain, with an annual turnover of £1.8billion. But is this appropriate?

Kent County Council has defended its payment of £229,999 per year to its Chief Executive by saying that this is the going rate for "the best man for the job". It is difficult to see how this view can be justified by the facts:

1. The vacant post was never advertised externally.

2. The current Chief Executive was never asked to interview in competition with any other applicants.

So KCC Conservative Councillors never gave themselves the opportunity either to test the Chief Executive talents with those of other applicants, or to explore the possibility that any equally talented person might have been prepared to do the job for less.

Letter to the Editor Press Release by Trudy Dean, Leader KCC Lib Dem Group.

713 KCC Employees in top 4.9% of Taxpayers

713 KCC employees are in the top 4.9% of taxpayers earning an annual income in excess of £50,000. This is more than double the 343 employees in 2005 earning over £50,000. By contrast the national average wage is £25,000.