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January 17, 2008 Thursday
Council may sell hotels to balance the books
Dorset Echo
WEYMOUTH and Portland council could sell off all its hotels and chalets and close a dozen public toilets to try and balance its 2008-2009 budget.
The move would save the council £79,500 in annual hotel maintenance bills but could cost it more than £1 million in lost rent revenue, so councillors have been told that reinvested sale cash returns would have to be greater than rents and capital growth if they backed a sale.
Selling off their hotels was just one suggestion explored during last night's meeting of the council's scrutiny and performance committee which met to try and start fine tuning budget savings of more than £1.1 million.
Management committee chairman Coun Nigel Reed said that selling the Norfolk Hotel and other sites from Waterloo Place to Brunswick Terrace and Devonshire Buildings was just one idea to find cash for unfunded capital projects. These included £245,000 for computer software, £40,000 to replace finger pontoons at Westwey Road, £30,000 for a new Pavilion at Portland's Grove sports ground and £20,000 for structural improvements to Portland Museum.
But Coun Simon Bowkett said: "I am loath to sell off our assets to fill a budget deficit. You can only sell off the family silver once."
Colleagues agreed to put their view forward to the February 5 management committee which will debate the idea.
Members were also against a possible £109,500 saving gained through the closure of all public toilets except those in Weymouth and Portland town centres, again reserving debate until the February 5 meeting.
Weymouth and Portland finance chief Jason Vaughan said earlier that making savings of more than £1.1 million would enable the council to deliver a council tax increase of below five per cent.
He said the council had already identified savings of £631,000 but still needed to find about £500,000 more and all that before considering possible support for growth items such as £48,000 for cemetery footpath repairs, £36,500 for car park resurfacing and £31,000 for replacing old town centre cast iron litter bins.
He added: "I think the picture is a difficult one for this council and its finances."
Taxi operators and drivers then expressed their fury at proposed increases in fees and Weyline boss Stewart Wright spoke for most when he said they 'strongly objected' to a proposal which would raise £9,500 by increasing annual operators' fees from £93 to £400 and annual driver-vehicle fees from £132 to £162. It was far above inflation and almost at London prices, he said, and should not be backed.
Environmental health chief Tony Beeson said talks were still going on with taxi groups and alternative suggestions would go before the February 5 meeting which would be told of the scrutiny committee's concerns at the level of the proposed taxi increases.
An idea to save £3,400 by reducing beach cleaning also did not go down well while members heard that revenue creating ideas included £28,400 from CCTV income, £20,000 from increased tourism sponsorship and £87,700 from Weymouth Pavilion efficiency savings including reduced staff budgets. All suggestions now go to the February 5 management committee meeting when budget and council tax proposals will be debated and recommendations sent to the full council on February 21.
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