Huge budget deficits throughout the country can't fail to have an impact on service delivery in most areas of public spending, and I don't envy Local Government when they have to justify cuts to a population who expect better.
This winter's big freeze hasn't helped either, and I'd like to bet that the County Council hasn't budgeted for road mending costs, expected to run into millions of pounds county-wide. Their response has been excellent in filling in the worst offenders quickly, including a whopper in Victoria Place which seemed to plumb new depths. Some major repair work will need to be undertaken in and around Carlisle, with extensive damage and cracking occuring during the cold spell. With gritting supplies just about exhausted too, expect bigger stocks to be carried next year. This money needs to come from somewhere - quite likely by diverting funds from other sources. All this when public spending is really coming under increased scrutiny.
Elsewhere, Carlisle City Council has carried out a job evaluation exercise for its 727 employees as a precaution against sex-discrimination claims arising from inequalities in pay due to gender. This has resulted in around 75% of employees getting a pay rise (and quite rightly so, if inequalities have been highlighted).
Of course we understand that services will come under increasing pressure, and there are hard times ahead, it's just that it becomes difficult to accept when some of the population have a harder time than others.
A little light to shed on the City Council Budget Black Hole - this would have been far, far worse if the Council had gambled away taxpayers money in an Icelandic Hedge Fund, just to make a fast buck.
