'Frivolous expenditure we can easily do without' (From Salisbury Journal)

'Frivolous expenditure we can easily do without'

9:19am Thursday 26th January 2012 in Salisbury Letters

THE council has decided to increase the council tax by nearly seven per cent to fund a series of ridiculous backslapping events for 2012.

In one word ‘crazy’.

In this time of recession when many people are struggling to make ends meet and cuts to vital local services are taking effect, our council has decided that we have money to waste on this rubbish.

This is especially worrying as the council’s track record at these kind of events is less than enviable.

I’m sure the council will tell us that the majority of residents are happy to part with the extra cash for these events.

Well, if that’s the case then why can’t they find a private company to run them and either charge an entrance fee or raise the cost from local businesses which may benefit in some way?

If that’s not possible, then I’m very sure that the Queen and the armed forces have sufficient money to pay for their own events, and as for the multi billion pound Olympic empire…need I say more?

Oh, and as this rise is for specific events in 2012, is there a binding guarantee that it will be reversed next year?

No? I thought not.

In times like this, people will accept that sometimes extra tax has to be raised, but they will be disgusted to see that instead of being spent on the vital local services on which so many vulnerable people depend, it is being squandered on frivolous expenditure that we can easily do without.

Priorities, priorities, priorities – the only priority here is the vanity and self importance of our elected councillors.

IAN GREEN, Idmiston