Making a difference to the people of Medway

Deputy Leader Alan Jarrett: Face up to reality of the price of worthiness

Article posted on Friday, 19 February 2010

The complexities of budget setting will – understandably – pass most people by, but over the next few weeks Medway Council will be deciding how best to juggle its finances over the next year.

The task gets more difficult with each passing year, but is one your elected representatives have to get to grips with. This has to be done against a rising tide of expectations from the public, mostly because this current government continues to give the impression that we can have more and more and continue to pay less and less.

That cannot work in financial terms, and after 12 years of a Labour government with our economy on its knees and unemployment soaring it is difficult to argue with that analysis.

UK PLC is no different to any business, or indeed our own household budgets – spend more than you earn and eventually the money runs out. It is not just the money that runs out, but confidence in the government falls. When that happens the knock-on effects are startling, and often long lasting.

A clear example of a lack of confidence can be seen here in Medway, with land values plummeting over the last year or so.

Medway is still seen as a good place in which to invest, and because of the work Medway Council is doing we have to some extent bucked the trend.

The pace of regeneration in Medway has so far not slowed down, with new roads schemes and a new bus station in Chatham, continuing to take shape. It is what happens next time that should be concerning us all.

Medway Council’s Conservative administration will continue to give value for money, but with the government giving us less and placing additional unfunded burdens on us the task is harder than ever.

For example, despite the worthiness of the idea, the fact that the government wants us to give free care at home for the elderly without enough money to fund it. It is difficult to believe that this is anything more than a shallow attempt to woo the voters as the general election approaches.

The cost of this scheme for Medway would be equivalent to almost six per cent increase in our council tax, and none of us want to see that happen. As ever, there is no such thing as a free lunch!