8 September (Part 2) - It’s party time
When the new Mayor, Ray Sams took office he
spent £1,350 on tea and sandwiches
for his mates. You thought he was being
extravagant with our money? He was barely getting into his stride, and by
comparison with others he is a bit of an amateur.
There was a knees up organised by the mayor’s office at the Marriott Hotel which cost
£10,171.04. That was just for refreshments, the sound system cost another £528.
Not to be out done, councillor Craske’s lot (Environment and Wellbeing) managed to spend rather more on
sandwiches and the like. A mere £10,754.64. That’s an awful lot of grub to
be stuffed down the favoured ones’ necks. I nudged my neighbour at
Tuesday’s meeting
to draw his attention to a certain red faced little man’s growing paunch. Now I
find I helped pay for it - and again - because the very same gourmet went back for
second helpings. But he wasn’t greedy. Only £7,490.40 second time around. The
cheapskates in Customer Services weren’t invited so arranged their own nosh on the
quiet. Nothing extravagant, only £1,830. Just peanuts. But they captured their
fun on camera, the photographer cost them £736.
Down at the Thames Innovation Centre they had something to celebrate too,
goodness knows what but they gobbled their way through £1,260 and put it down to Social Care.
Craske’s crew got jealous and munched their way through another £10,754.64 of… well
caviar I assume. To wash it down, £1,436 and sixteen pence went to The Coffee Company.
That’s just for one month (June). At that rate Bexley council is spending more than
twice as much on their own “refreshments” than they do on Meals on Wheels for the
vulnerable. (Assumption derived from
News Shopper which reported that the £275,000 cost in 2008 was too much and was to be cut.)
Note : The data provided by the council does not reveal who
ate all the pies or why, only who paid the bill and its size. The council’s
website does not reveal which department is responsible for Meals on Wheels but
‘Environment and Wellbeing’ does not claim to be.