23 June - The Accounts. More grim reading
Another quick look at
Bexley Council’s draft 2019/20 accounts.
Page 9
The bins fiasco. The cost of storing bins in a Council property in Erith is said to
be £350,000. The four month delay to introduction of the revised recycling service is put at
£530,000, £254,000 of it being met from contingency funds. Income fell because of “market
conditions” and on top of that £200,000 was lost because “external competition”.
Why the £350k storage costs on the warehouse that the Council owns and for which
they have been unable to find a tenant? Has ownership been transferred to BexleyCo so that they can charge for bin storage?
The delay was caused by a procedural error on the tendering process. A very
expensive mistake. The senior officers involved remain in their jobs.
Page 74
Pensions may not be listed in the Table of Contents but a Note on Page 74 says
the Pension Reserves fell from £194 million to £160 million, described as a
“substantial shortfall” between “benefits earned” and “the resources the Council
has put aside to meet them”.
Page 83
This page records that Graham Ward is the Interim Managing Director and also a
Non-Executive Director of Bexley Council’s wholly owned property company. It is
credited with having an Income of £20,000 in the last Financial Year and
Expenditure of absolutely nothing. Not even a box of paper clips.