Morley Town Council money

It was quoted in this weeks Morley Obtiser that "the position of the council was "desperate" "

It would be nice, would it not, to know what "desperate" means.

I chaired the Finance committee on MTC for several years; and indeed still held that position when I stood down in May 2007.

In July 2005 I sent a letter to the committee chairmen (reproduced below, and all my own words). The following November Morley Town Council set their budget (my final one). This budget did not, in my recollection, reduce the level of reserves; in fact, I suspect owing to committee underspend, it may have increased them.

I recall speaking to a fellow member of Finance & General Purposes committee, and saying we can lower the precept here, because it aint being spent. I was twittered at for a while and in the end the precept stayed as it was, and is (about £18 for a band D)

Oh well, maiden post :)

"Dear

I am writing to you as a Chairman of one of the standing committees of Morley Town Council.

The Town Clerk has advised that external audit have recently queried the high reserves held by the Town Council. It has been explained that circa £36,000 has been set aside to meet the variance between the precept and planned expenditure in the current year. It would also be anticipated, although this cannot be confirmed until 2006 budgets are developed and agreed by Council, that a similar amount would be used to offset 2006/07 expenditure.

External Audit have stated that they feel the level of reserves held is too high and that the precept claim should be reduced in future years. Should a similar amount of reserves be retained at the end of March 2005; they will be closely scrutinising those annual accounts with particular regard to reserves and the subsequent precept claimed for 2006-07.

The Town Clerk has asked External Audit if they could indicate what an acceptable level of reserves would be. Audit advised that a working balance should be held to cover emergencies but could not say how much this would amount to and advised seeking further guidance from YLCA.

In order that the Town Council is not compromised by a further increase in reserves, I am writing to ask Chairmen to ensure, as far as possible, that all planned expenditure is committed as soon as possible. This will avoid a large end of year surplus.

If there are any problems with the above, please contact the Town Clerk as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely



Paul Jamieson
Chairman of Finance and General Purposes Committee "