Quiz the County budget-setters
Why does Buckinghamshire plan to spend £15m on roads maintenance? How will the County Council save money to make ends meet? Could County Hall run out of money?
These and any other questions about the County Council’s financial planning will be welcomed when the draft 2018/19 budget goes under the microscope next week.
A cross-party select committee of councillors will question Cabinet members on their departmental spending plans during three days of hearings from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 January. And while they’re doing this, Chairman David Watson wants residents to add their questions.
“I’ve always been a great champion of transparency and openness, and so I’d welcome questions from the public,” said David. “And they’ll all get an answer from the relevant Cabinet Member. Of course, people can attend if they wish – the meetings are all open to the public.”
People can pose their questions ahead of the three day scrutiny of the draft £334 million revenue budget and the draft £154 million capital budget, either by email todemocracy@buckscc.gov.ukor on Twitter using the hashtag #BucksBudget.
“Our job as a committee is to ensure the budget is robust and serves the needs of the county and the people,” said David.”We’ll be diligent and ask the relevant questions to each Cabinet member to make sure we are spending public money prudently.”
Details of the draft budget for 2018/19 are here: https://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?AIId=58983
Hearings over the three days will be webcast online. Following the scrutiny process the committee willproduce a report listing recommendations.