Councillors debate pioneering project for shared services

A COUNTYWIDE initiative widely seen as hailing the end of West Somerset Council as a standalone local authority is to be discussed by district councillors next week.
Pioneer Somerset was created by the county’s five district councils to work more closely with the county council following a failed attempt by Somerset’s Liberal Democrat councillors to axe the districts.
The bid by the county council to create a single, unitary council running all local government services in Somerset was thrown out by the Government after a public referendum showed more than 80 per cent of people opposed it.
Since then, the six councils have been forced to look at ways of sharing the delivery of their services in order to produce £20 million efficiency savings under Pioneer Somerset branding.
It means that tiny West Somerset - already having to get by without its own chief executive, planning manager, solicitor, or treasurer – is likely to increasingly have its services delivered by neighbouring authorities.
West Somerset councillors will be the first to debate a joint update on the scheme when a report is presented to the scrutiny committee on Monday.
The next steps of the programme will then be discussed during the coming weeks by all the other councils involved - Taunton Deane , South Somerset, Sedgemoor, Mendip, and the county council.
The programme will move into ‘phase two’ with a focus on delivering in three key areas - shared services, customer access, and managerial leadership, by working with a broad range of partners.
Shared services options include street cleaning, a county-wide approach to regeneration projects including major planning applications, developing economic and tourism opportunities across Somerset, communication and consultation, rural development, and improving housing opportunities for local people.
Pioneer Somerset has so far seen joint legal services between West Somerset and Mendip councils.
It is also producing proposals for a county-wide parking partnership to share patrolling and enforcement.
The county, through the Building Schools for the Future programme, is working with Sedgemoor on proposals to provide cost-effective wet and dry leisure facilities, including a possible new pool.
Taunton Deane and Sedgemoor have been working on a pilot project to provide joint street cleaning and gardening, and South Somerset and the county council have created joint area committees for issues at all levels of local government to be discussed at one meetinge.

Now, it's 'fat cat' council pensions in the watchdog's spotlight

PENSIONS for local council staff are costing every West Somerset resident a total of £62, a startling new report by local authority watchdogs the Taxpayers’ Alliance has revealed.
Information obtained by the alliance using the Freedom of Information Act shows Somerset County Council increased the money it spent on pensions for staff from £20.64 million in 2005-06 to £24.332 million in 2006-07 - a huge 17.9 per hike in just one year.
The Liberal Democrat-run county’s pensions bill alone was £47 for each person in West Somerset.
On top of this, each resident was forking out another £15 for pensions at cash-crisis West Somerset Council, although its spend actually fell by 13.5 per cent from £615,000 in 2005-06 to £532,000 in 2006-07.
The news comes just two months after The Post reported a Taxpayers’ Alliance investigation which showed the number of County Hall ‘fat cat’ officers earning more than £50,000 a year had skyrocketed by 1,200 per cent from just nine in 1997 to a staggering 111 by last year – costing each West Somerset resident £13.64.
The cost of pensions at neighbouring Taunton Deane Borough Council rose by a huge 46.6 per cent from £1.66 million in 2005-06 to £2,434 million in 2006-07, which amounted to £23 per person.
Sedgemoor District Council increased its pensions funding by 23.2 per cent from £1.6 million to £1.973 million between 2005-06/07, costing each resident £18.
Nationally, the average council now spends more than £10 million on employer pension payments - a 13 per cent increase on the average amount spent in 2005-06.
In 2006-07, local authorities across the country spent a total of £4.6 billion on employer contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme and unfunded payments and added years benefits to local government employees, teachers and fire
Fighters - representing 21 per cent of council tax revenue or £1 in every £5 of council tax.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chairman Andrew Allum said: “It is unacceptable that ordinary families and pensioners who struggle to pay inflated council tax bills see so much of their money spent on gold-plated council pensions that have all but disappeared in the wider economy.
“With pension costs jumping 13 per cent in one year, the problem is clearly getting worse and requires urgent attention.
“Councils should start correcting their own behaviour immediately, and the Government must face down union pressure and reform the outdated local government pensions scheme as soon as possible.”
Mr Allum said urgent reform of public sector pensions was ‘clearly essential’ in order to reduce the bill to taxpayers, free up money for services, and avoid a serious crisis in public sector pension funding in the future.
He said at present many councils added extra years to an officer’s pension to allow them to retire early.
“In other words, it is possible for certain council employees to retire at age 55 and immediately draw on a pension as if they had retired at age 60,” he said.
Mr Allum said added years benefits was a practice which should cease immediately.
He said at the same time as increasing their spending on pensions for staff, many local authorities were raising council tax and at the same time cutting services such as rubbish collections or care for the elderly.
Local Government Association deputy chief executive John Ransford said: “The TaxPayers’ Alliance appears to be condemning lollipop ladies, bin men, street cleaners, and librarians for getting a pension worthy of the years of service they have given helping local people.
“Councils provide more than 800 different services for local residents and these cannot be delivered by robots or machines.
“The Local Government Pension Scheme recently underwent a radical overhaul, which provides greater value for money to the taxpayer while at the same time recognising the invaluable work that council staff do to make the lives of local people better.
“According to the Treasury, councils are the most efficient and effective part of the public sector, and the independent Audit Commission has recently said that councils are delivering better services than ever before.”

'Fat cat' council officers cost council taxpayers £7 million a year

THE number of ‘fat cat’ County Hall officers earning £50,000+ a year has rocketed under a decade of Liberal Democrat control by more than a staggering 1,200 per cent, according to a study by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
In 1997, Somerset County Council employed just nine officers on salaries in excess of £50k.
By last year, the number of higher-paid staff had soared to – 111.
Those 111 high earners alone were now costing council taxpayers more than £7 million a year to keep them in their jobs.
Ten years ago, the cost was £515,000.
The highest-paid County Hall officer is chief executive Alan Jones, who, according to information leaked to West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, now earns £143,211 – more than twice an MP’s salary.
Mr Liddell-Grainger said: “The salaries of all the heads of service are tied to his. So, when he gets a rise, they all get one.”
Five years ago, Mr Jones’ salary was said to be £94,285 – reflecting a 52 per cent pay rise in just five years.
County Hall’s Lib Dem administration has met the extra wage bills by more than doubling average council tax bills from £ 485.94 10 years ago to this year’s proposed £999.90.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance study revealed that each council taxpayer in West Somerset now pays £13.64 towards the ‘fat cat’ salaries at the county council.
In addition, those in West Somerset district pay another £6.80 each for four district council officers who earn in excess of £50,000 a year.
Ten years ago, West Somerset had only one officer on such a salary scale. Now, with four, their bill adds up to £240,000 a year.
In Taunton Deane, council taxpayers are charged £8.75 each for the £940,000 it costs to pay 14 staff on £50k salaries – up from £65,000 when the chief executive was the only officer in that bracket 10 years ago.
Sedgemoor council taxpayers currently stump up £4.68 each for the £520,000 cost of eight officers earning above £50k, compared to the £55,000 it cost in 1997 to employ one officer at the top of the wage bands.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “With council tax doubling in the past decade, it is extremely disappointing that town halls have chosen to hire a new class of middle managers, many of whom are being paid more than MPs.
“Local authorities should study these findings carefully to see where savings can be made, instead of using their half-billion pound PR machine to obscure their finances from taxpayers.”
The ‘fat cat’ salaries survey follows closely on from another TaxPayers’ Alliance study which showed Somerset County Council was spending more than £4.2 million a year on publicity - almost a 110 per cent leap from the £2 million it spent in 1997.
The county council claimed £1.5 million of that sum went on recruitment advertising.
The Post asked the county to comment on the ‘fat cat’ salaries report – it declined.