Middlesbrough Council announce big cuts whilst giving big pay rises to CEO Managers Councillors
meanwhile residents in Middlesbrough call in WONGA to cough up the cash
Ray Mallon $MBC$ then give the WONGA away
you couldn't make it up
Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon announces £11m cuts
A SHOCKING £11m package of cuts affecting every household in Middlesbrough has been announced by Mayor Ray Mallon.
Children, disabled people and the elderly will all be affected by the wide-ranging measures announced by Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon.
Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -32086451/
AN EMPTY Middlesbrough town centre office block is to be transformed into hi-tech office accommodation.oggy
If the council is so desperate to save money, why don't they stop funding that stupid art gallery, MIMA?
normal
This Council has been guilty of a staggering waste of public money. from MIMA to stupid features in the middle of roundabouts, to reducing traffic on linthorpe rd to standstill by getting rid of the bus lanes.
if stupidity could be defined in two words it would be Middlesbrough Council.
Steveinguisborough
If the council stopped contributing to MIMA then the town would lose all the funding it gets for MIMA (more than £500,000 a year) from the Arts Council. That funding enables them to do more work with communities and in education - which would otherwise have to come from council funds.
boromike1
so....with the green waste collections being axed,street cleaning and grasscutting being reduced,im looking forward to a reduction in council tax bills.oh hang on.....what am i talking about ?....council tax reduction,silly me !.....i see a charge being introduced for us all at the green waste tip.so all we need to do is use our own ridiculously expensive to run vehicles to take our garden waste to a tip,pay the council to recycle it so they can sell the excess back to us as a compost for our own gardens ? i suggest that everyone with a garden make their own compost and sell the excess to the council.imagine it...a cheque from the council....would you cash it or frame it ?
CR
How about tyring to save from the top down and getting rid of a paid Mayor!
boromike1
its a difficult job to look after our towns affairs,granted.but i wonder how many council members go home worrying about what state it will be in by the time the last of the cuts have been made ? we who live in this great town are not only here on a 9-5 basis....most of us are disgusted by what is happening.yes money has to be saved but once again it starts from where it is most needed.while the money is being saved,the bad side,crime,mental health,depression,stress,higher unemployment etc will get so much worse that eventually we will see that it will have cost more to put right......vicious circle...slippery slope.......if middlesbrough looks after you by paying your wage then you have a responsibility to look after middlesbrough
squirky
the full list of cuts and savings can be accessed on the council website and im afraid to say they are bad
gs
yet again its services for the disabled that are going to go as if they dont have it hard enough as it is! the council need to stop subsidisng mima and how about them stop wasting money on big pay packets for council leaders and building stupid sculptures!!
Steveinguisborough
Most councillors work very hard for peanuts. If you work it out, most get paid less than minimum wage. I'd love to know how much money is having to be set aside for compensation claims against the councils in our area. Years ago we didn't need to fund this area - thios is a growing expense that none of us benefit from - well apart from the very few.
Clouseau
Some suggestions:
1. Cut the top brass wages by at least half. Millions saved.
2.Close Mima today, rent the space out as cheap shops to bring in shoppers. Stop the expensive parking.
3. Do not cut green collections as it will lead to dumping which will cost more to clear up in the long run.
4. Stop lease cars and hire cars being used by most middle managers as personal runabouts. Has anyone worked out how much the council spends on hiring vans and cars? Give them a bus pass. Got to be cheaper.
5. Stop producing expensive leaflets and magazines in 20 different languages as nobdy reads them.
Lets see the mayor earning the £30,000 he was elected on, and not allow him and the other executives giving themselves massive pay rises.
All common sense really, but I doubt anyone will make it happen.
Lancet
Has anybody realised that the same mayor gave away over £800,000 of council money to his friend the property developer to refurbish the front of a certain block of offices next to the old odean site on corporation road!
The gazette also ran a story on the purchase and money given to the developer, and how the mayor was his best friend!
Could there be something fishy going on?
That would have been nearly a million quid saved and the jobs that go with them.
Didnt anybody think it odd when he had a ventured interest in the mayors ex agent and property developer?
thewiderview
Unfortunately Mr Mallon is a hostage of the controlling Labour group. He owes his position to them and so cannot risk upsetting them. If Mr Mallon is brave enough he could boost the credibility of his council by;
1. Reducing the number of councillors and so reduce the cost of running the town, if Hartlepool can do it so can Middlesbrough.
2. Ensure that councillors remunerations are transparent. We all know that councillors receive allowances from the council. What we need to know is what other benefits they accrue from being councillors, such as being members of the boards of non-council organisations (Fabrik, DTVA etc). payments from membership of bodies receive from other bodies which they
Lancet
Story about the £750,000 being given to the mayors friend in 2010 here. http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -26310827/
Supreme Property Development, headed by Teesside businessman Nasser Din, is spending £3m on the project at Crown House near Middlesbrough Railway Station. A further £750,000 is to be spent by Middlesbrough Council improving the area around the building, which has stood empty for some time. Built in the Sixties, it was previously used as Government offices.
Richyg01
If councils are so cash strapped, why are they more determined to cut public services than cut some of the over inflated salaries and benefits that they are paying out to some of the council staff.
Why is it that it always comes down to Joe Public loosing out rather than someone taking a wage cut?
tripehound
And he wants to be MP for Middlesbrough?
He should never have been elected mayor.
If he still intends standing for parliament won't he have to have a Middlesbrough address?
darren7303
It was claimed when these cuts were announced that the councils were being given the equivalent of 2008 budgets, yet the cuts seem extreme. I cannot believe that the council's costs have risen so much (yes fuel has no denying) that these kind of cuts need to be made. Is it all wages and pensions? No cuts there it would appear!
What will now happen to the development of Gresham, Tower Green and Middlehaven etc?
Mr. Mallon and the council should hang their heads in shame.
Never mind running for MP, Ray Mallon should stick around and sort out the mess he helped create.
Telboro
If it is proposed that grass cutting etc is to be stopped, what then, of the hundreds of machines bought and maintained for that purpose ?.
Get prisoners from Holme House and other like establishments to use these tools and do this work for no pay.
Instead of laying in their beds watching TV and playing snooker, they can pay back the community they have hurt.
why not reduce the number of councillours in some wards, and reduce their wages, Kids will be on streets causing trouble, streets will be filthy and crime figures will rise. What happens next yr when another round of cuts are needed and there is nothing to cut.
hadenough
mallon should take a 50percent pay cut or loose his job alltogether see how he likes pay cuts
Timetogetreal
I have just read through the list of proposed cuts shown on the Middlesbrough Council website and am absolutely astonished on a number of fronts:
1. Why isn't there a greater emphasis on reducing the overheads of the council by reducing management costs even further instead of focusing the greatest cuts on the most vulnerable in society
2. Why on earth has it taken downward pressure from a reduction in central government grants to force action on some areas that should have been tackled anyway. This list of proposals should have been actioned years ago - this would have been sensible and prudent financial management but why bother when you can fleece the council taxpayer
3. Some of the cuts rely on transferring the cost to other public sector organisations (eg other councils or the NHS) - does the council really expect their public sector partners to accept these costs without a fight?
4. There is absolutely no reference to what this level of cuts will mean in terms of council tax for next year so we must assume we will all be faced with an increase of 1.99% (any extra will require a local referendum and they will avoid that like the plague!!!)
5. The council should seek external support and scrutiny to look for further cuts as we can't rely on the council officers and members to focus on cuts in an impartial manner. I have years of experience in managing public sector budgets and would gladly offer my services for free.
vespasien
Cuts cuts cuts thats all we hear in the North East. It will never change until the Condem Government leave power.
Not that i am pro Labour, but the area is a Labour stronghold and of little strategic importance to a Conservative Government. Therefore it will be plunged back into the 80's and they couldn't give a hoot.
As to personal attacks on Mr Mallon and the stock "sack the councillors" comments, 90% are there to try and improve Middlesbrough for everyone.
As the saying goes "You can't polish a t*rd,but you can roll it in glitter" god knows they have tried and in some areas are succeeding namely over the border (middlehaven) if the financial world had not imploded in 2008 it would most likely be finished and look fantastic, it's shaping up still but will take longer than expected.
we can do nothing about these cuts until the next election so why not focus the frustrations on central Government and email your MP to complain instead of turning on each other (local people/councillors).
The conservative way is to divide and conquer.
HoHoHoHo
The list of cuts just show how much money was being wasted under this administration. If they can cut the amounts shown under the headings of Support to Senior Management and Chief Executive and Assistant Chief its obscene. Nearly two million. What about the savings made in the cuts to failed asylum seekers of £30,000. A saving of £30,000 AS A CUT. How much do we waste on them? Unbelievable.
bombers
Why not reduce his salary !!
spragger1
Why the rush to the frontline?
Sack the chief exec., that will save £200k pa year on year.
He is part of the problem
Cut all wages by 15%, now. Put all staff on a Money Purchase pension now.
Stop the taxpayer paying for union officials, let the union pay
Stop ALL discretionary overtime now
Remove ALL temporary/ locum workers now.
Sack all climate change, diversity, european & political officers now. None of them do anything for the taxpayer.
All Cllrs to do their role at NO cost to the taxpayer. We will then see whose interest they are driven by . .
Senior Mangers to sanction any expenditure funded by the taxpayer
The frontline services can then continue, the only bit the taxpayer values
oggy
I notice that one of the proposals is to close Hemlington Library. Instead of closing libraries, how about reducing their running costs by charging a more realistic amount for internet access, instead of the token annual charge at the moment? This could be retained for people on the electoral roll, but charge others, such as people from outside the area (especially asylum seekers) a separate rate, say about £2 or £3 an hour. Of course, as soon as they did this, they would not come, would they?
talisker
Litter picking will make no difference where I live as its so hot and miss anyway however, I have to agree that MIMA is over funded and under used. The government have already said that they are going to freeze Council Tax again next year, as Middlesbrough Council took no notice of this last year I think that with all the saving these cuts are going to make and the vast reduction in service, the Council will not have bigger outlay that last year so I think we need an answer on weather out Council Tax will be frozen, after all, looking at these and past cuts, we have nothing else to pay for. Does this also mean that with less services available, elected members can double up and do 2 jobs, thus resulting in fewer meaning even bigger savings....no, thought not.
UnionJack1
Middlesbrough, where the Council have lost the plot …with the 4th highest number of council employees costing 3 times more than others in the UK and 7th in the league of councils with non-working benefit claimants, it's a clear indication that the system is broken and needs a complete overhaul to stop those who try to manipulate it … evidence of the Labour Party legacy that blights many parts of this country, where the words Labour, Thrift, Dignity and Diligence are carved into the crumbling pediment … and it makes you want to weep !
bingobango
The council will not be reading this comments page, if you even want the remotest chance of having your voice heard on the proposals you need to use the form on the council website.
http://middlesbrough.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5292
Moucher
Just put a tax on staffies
UnionJack1
The 4 Cleveland Councils collectively spend £14MILLION on salaries per year on just 191 employees … now thats a big chunk to save from just 191 individuals = 0.7%, less than 1% of all employees … A BETTER PLACE TO START the pruning, with some spare to keep the place tidy and safe !
vez
do we need a mayor
lastsaneman
23 employees on between £61K and £142K + civil service pensions. 5000 more employees for a total population of just 142,000. (albeit in an area with 7.5% of the population on disability!)
but of course the services go first.
still, you voted him in. enjoy.
banjo
this proves what damage Labour councillors have done to this town since their ruling of this town ,decades of overspending and awarding themselves enormous expences for attending meetings. DEMOCRACY ON YOUR DOORSTEP. NOW THATS A JOKE!!. a bottomless pit of money for donkeys years and they created the worst town in the UK
LUR1
1. Stop buying up perfectly good houses in Gresham just to knock them down.
.2. Abolish the cctv brigade. You can keep the cameras filming and if there is a SERIOUS incident then view them later but we dont need a room full of snoopers looking out for someone dropping a fag end.
3. Abolish Mallons Muppets, ie the wardens. 4 of them stood about chatting to security guards in the Cleveland Centre the other day.
4. Abolish the bus station security guards. Nothing better to do for 99% of the time than tell people not to sit on the stairs.
5. Yes, shut Mima. A luxury we cant afford (and very few of us would want anyway).
prayertime
The first cut that should be made is to remove Mallon from the council payroll. He would save about £150,000 a year (in salaries and expenses). This guy brings nothing to the table - crisis management, stupid off the cuff statements about policies and opinions about things he knows absolutely nothing at all about. A person running a business as large as Middlesbrough Council should have a business degree and years of experience in diverse business enterprises - not a discredited ex-cop with an axe to grind. Mallon - get out!!
MSmith
Might have looked better if he started with reducing the ammount of councilors we support, pay the ones left minimum expences, shut down the mayors bar and announced his resignation, we managed without him in the past we can do it again.
ClaudeTed
So what was the actual benefit / return on the £750K grant to Mallon'as friend, the man who sold him an old car & apparently became a property developer. Did any of those expensive roundabouts actually bring in extra business to the area? Was there a need for a host of traffic calming measures including expensive metal speed signs on roads that didn't need them. What about the pay offs to council workers in organisations such as Cleveland Police? Mallon himself seems to have cost this area an awful lot in terms of investigations & the demolition of perfectly good housing. Frankly their incompetence is frightening, I have a hefty rates bill & I am sure the benefit I get is nowhere near what it should be. This lot haven't a clue!
BHN6094
Should never have got rid of Cleveland County. Could have told you then that splitting everything into four was going to be more expensive. Now he's proposing merging certain things back together again to sve money.
burrapete
Doesn't he LOVE staring at the camera lense?
He frightens the life out of me how much he appears to be in love with himself , and his image.
Sentinel
To thewidervew and vespasian.
On the 2nd September 2011 Mayor Mallon held a "Single Member meeting" (the councils own words) you work it out, to borrow £15 Million to demolish the Gem streets, about 200 homes. There is no development plan, just knock 'em down!!
That money was borrowed from a bank and repayments each year will be about £1Million. So, while he is slashing life changing services, he is racking up huge debts for NO GOOD REASON.
Mallon is not in Labours pocket, he has his own agenda and it stinks, like everything else he has got into with his grubby fingers.
When he has raised a whole community to the ground and covered it in grass, who is going to cut it?
Name withheld
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Indie
Steveinguisbro - you are wrong. The council tax payers of Mbro have to find £1.2 million each year to fund MIMA & it brings in no profit. The council is NOT allowed to charge an entry fee - that was one of the conditions of funding - they do receive some funding to ADD to the £1.3 million the town has to find each year. The work MIMA does with the commuity is to take hundreds of school childen there for art lessons - that can and has always been done in schools as they pay for art teachers in schools. Funding from the Arts Council is based on visitor numbers that is why so many school children are taken there over and over again - to boost visitor numbers.
Indie
rockandahardplace - Ray Mallon did NOT state that no cllrs could suggest closing MIMA at all. When some did suggest that - he said no.
borodude
Item 26 is my favourite:
Reducing the support to FAILED asylum seekers by £30k.
Two questions:
1. Why are they still in this country if they are 'failed'.
2. If the reduction is £30k - how much is still being spent on these economic migrants?
Freckles
Here we go again!
The majority of councils in England either froze or reduced their Council Tax last year; Middlesbrough's went up by 3.5%.
Many councils in England have already announced a further freeze or reduction on Council Tax for 2013-2014.
So what did Middlesbrough do with the extra 3.5% it got that all the other Councils didn't get last year?
Since moving to Middlesbrough in 2006 I have seen my Council Tax rise by 24.7%, and I have seen no attempts by the Council to reduce their pay and allowances, whereas mine has actually reduced in real terms since 2006. All we keep hearing is the usual rhetoric from a Labour run council that services have to be cut.
How about trying to run Middlesbrough more efficiently like most other councils appear to be doing and stop making politically motivated cuts to popular services?
You cannot keep squeezing the few members of the population in Middlesbrough not on benefits and paying the full Council Tax, to pay for your grand schemes and money wasting projects and initiatives.
"Making Middlesbrough a destination".
"Middlesbrough Moving Forward".
Give me a break, the only direction Middlesbrough will move in is down as ordinary working people like me will get sick of this high spending Labour Council and move out!
markmye
I am an employee of the council who's jobs have been proposed to save money when the team was set up we had 29 staff we now have 7 we have been gradually taken away & not replaced, i haven't had a wage increase in 3 years.
It makes me mad that there is Seniors, coordinators, manager then about 3 other managers on top of my manager simple cut the managers salaries which will not happen because they make the decisions not the low payed staff
Kathryn2
And permission has been granted to developers to build hundreds of new homes in the town. Where are the new occupants going to come from? There's no work (though one housing developer has stated that it will create hundreds of new jobs - but surely they will only be temporary) and no services! No incentive at all!
RockandaHardPlace
If i can make one simple suggestion.
Stop paying people to blow leaves about with leaf blowers. Mother nature is always going to win that battle - she has the biggest leaf-blower! Instead of blowing leaves from paths time and time again, clear them away once. have a central site where they can be taken to mulch down into fertiliser and cut the cost of buying fertiliser / compost. It aint rocket science!
Lancet
Not only has he links with his good friend the property developer but with Jomast the casino developer.
Mark my words, he already has a desk with his name on it in both organsiations.
There needs to be a thorough investigation into the friends and who was given what?
He did dodge the bullet at Cleveland Police during Lancet, so will he just say "I've had enough" while twanging his braces into the sunset?
Tiresias
Well, he gets my vote as Labour MP for Boro.
Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -32086451/
