Sheffield City Council meeting - An important Invitation

[Anna B]

The council's budget is many, many times that and includes responsibility for education, social services, housing, social care, libraries, roads, refuse, the environment, etc, etc.

 

The fact that your vote is determined by something as small and unimportant as executive salaries underlines how narrow-minded you are.

 

On the contrary. Executive pay came up several times in public consultations. Therefore it is not considered small and unimportant or narrow minded by a large number of Sheffield Citizens.

 

It's a question of fairplay. Is it fair that in times of austerity these people should be receiving many times the average wage for doing not a very good job?

 

The irony is that during their preliminary speeches the councillors made much of the growing gap between rich and poor, without seemingly realising that it is exactly this sort of disparity which causes it.

 

They should put their money where their mouth is, and make a stand to reduce these sort of overblown salaries.

[newcomer01]

Nothing to add to this discussion, but thanks ANNA B and rinzwind for your comments and thoughts.I have found this the most thought provoking thread on SF since I started.I hope that the people who look at this without commenting find enough to make better decisions in future.

[*_ash_*]

Turning down 2 million pounds of free money given out just for not raising council tax IS a bad job.

 

OK, so this is a bad idea in your eyes...

 

No I would not trust any person. Also there is no reason to expect that you would get a city run any worse. The whole point is to run the city better.

 

... underline: this contradicts what you said see below,

 

I will support any councilor that pledges to substantially reduce the £3.3m bill for the 37 executives.

 

and the bold is obviously wrong. It could be run much worse.

 

Not realistic at all. It was a flippant remark pointing out that people on workfare programs are expected to work for as little as this. It can be taken as the minimum required to live on. How much do I really think? I think they should get paid the same as everybody else.

 

You asked earlier whether Tory councils pay the same money (or thereabouts) to which neither of us knew the answer, though I guessed that it's probably a similar amount.

 

So with this bold, you say they should get paid the same as everyone else, do you mean the same as others in the similar positions in other councils?

 

I might look some of these up later if I have time.

[Vegas1]

Tory councils are usually down south, where wages are higher anyway. Its a pointless comparison to be making.

[rinzwind]

... underline: this contradicts what you said see below,

 

Could have been better phrased "No I would not trust just any person. " If they happened to be Dr Evil or something I wouldn't trust them. It's a judgment call. Apart from a few possible exceptions, I would support any councilor that pledges to substantially reduce the executive salaries. It's not a difficult position to get your head around.

 

and the bold is obviously wrong. It could be run much worse.

 

No, the bold is not wrong. It could be much worse but there is no reason to suspect it would be.

 

If any of the executives are doing their jobs properly there will be plenty of well trained underlings ready to take over at a moments notice should one of them fall ill. If there isn't then just start training someone now.

 

Companies change directors and executives all the time. As long as you phase the changes in, it's ridiculous to think the sky would fall in because we had new management. Things would change but that's the whole idea.

Edited March 10, 2015 by rinzwind

[Jack_Russell]

This makes interesting reading, the behaviour of local councillors leaves a lot to be desired.

 

http://kickass-cookies.co.uk/sheffield-governance-joke/

[Vegas1]

This makes interesting reading, the behaviour of local councillors leaves a lot to be desired.

 

http://kickass-cookies.co.uk/sheffield-governance-joke/

 

I am sure no other local council in the UK does things like this :suspect:

[cuttsie]

I am sure no other council in the UK does things like this :suspect:

And that makes it O.K?

[gamezone07]

That's probably one of the most pertinent questions you've ever asked.

 

I have often wondered that, who not one evening or a Saturday and open it up to the internet, Skype, etc, many disabled people who just can't get to these meetings would then have a voice.

 

---------- Post added 10-03-2015 at 19:06 ----------

 

Well, an interesting meeting. A surprising number of people in the public gallery, (although quite a lot of them were Chinese university students.)

 

Some interesting questions from members of the public, but the answers were fairly stock-in-trade (a bit like TVs Question Time.) Yes, they said, 7 members of the council were worth their £100,000+, (John Mothersole is actually on £220,000,) - have to get the best people,- that was the going rate for the job etc etc.

I have to say, they didn't look very impressive to me, nor worth the money.

 

Anyway folks, the upshot is, Council Tax is going up, and the council has missed out on a £2,000,000 government grant because of it, though I do believe they are genuinely struggling to fulfill their commitments. They say their government money's gone down by 50% over the last 5 years, and much of it has been drained off to go down south. (There was a lot about the formula being used to calculate per capita grant money being changed to favour those in the south, but this bit was quite technical and it was difficult to hear at times.)

I still think £3.5 million spent on the salaries of just 37 council officers is ridiculous, and a cut in that could have gone a long way to plugging some of the gaps, as Rinzwind says. But without support, what can you do?

 

This is correct, the Condems have systematically favoured wealthier councils that generally happen to vote Tory and are generally down south, I'm surprised you didn't know that.

 

btw, I do have concerns that progressive people on here are falling for UKIP tactics, I'm all for scrutiny, but attacking the council for the sake of it is not helpful.

Edited March 10, 2015 by gamezone07

[apelike]

 

btw, I do have concerns that progressive people on here are falling for UKIP tactics, I'm all for scrutiny, but attacking the council for the sake of it is not helpful.

 

No, but democracy works both ways.

 

The worse concern is that most seem to fall for the SCC ploy that "its not our fault its the governments," and keep voting the same numpties in time after time knowing their past track record.