West Windsor RBMW Councillors Wisdom and Carole da Costa have added their voices to a call for an enquiry and full accountability to be allocated as well as corrective action to be taken for the Borough’s proposed 204/25 budget.
Cllr Wisdom da Costa said: “We must restore good functioning to RBWM and improve public confidence in our Local Authority at all levels including function, officers and political representatives.”
He is lending his support to former Leader of RBWM Andrew Johnson who has written to Jim McMahon MP Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.
Mr Johnson wrote: “I am taking the somewhat unprecedented step of writing to you as the immediate former Leader of the Council of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to urge that your department intervenes and instigates a formal review into the financial position of the authority.
“You are undoubtedly familiar with the position of this authority by consequence of the detailed discussions between it and your department in the months leading to today’s local government finance settlement. This includes the freedom for the council to levy an additional 4% council tax increase on its residents over and above the effective cap.
Mr Johnson continued: “Given the severity of the issue I am, therefore, urging you to urgently commission an independent inquiry into this, including the recall, if such powers allow, of former officers to provide evidence and insight. This, after all, involves a significant sum of public money and such an inquiry is rapidly needed to maintain the trust in local democratic structures. Needless to say, I would be very willing to contribute to such an inquiry.”
Frankie Theobalds, West Windsor Residents Association Chairman made this statement:
Council accounts have shown a predicted overspend of £16 million this year.
This is indeed a troubling matter.
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is facing significant financial challenges, including a large budget deficit and high levels of debt. As such, the council will need to take a comprehensive approach to reducing spending.
- Identify areas where spending can be reduced or eliminated. This could include reducing staff, cutting services, or finding ways to deliver services more efficiently.
- Increase revenue by raising taxes, fees, or charges.
- Explore alternative funding sources. This could include seeking grants or partnerships with other organizations.
- Improve financial management. This could include implementing better budgeting and accounting practices, and improving oversight of spending.
- Make difficult decisions. The council will need to make some difficult decisions about which services to cut and which charges to raise.
It is clear that stricter oversight of department budgets must be implemented and reported on a weekly basis. We need accountability and transparency. Someone must be brought to book. Through no fault of their own, Borough residents are being made to pay for RBWM inadequacies and political dogma.