‘Scrap Kirklees Together and save £200k’ says Almondbury councillor
Sep 30 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
TAXPAYERS could save nearly £200,000 if a Kirklees Council magazine is scrapped, a politician has claimed.
Clr John Smithson wants Kirklees Together to be axed as the council struggles to cope with the public spending squeeze.
The Almondbury Lib Dem thinks spending £192,000 a year on a magazine can’t be justified when Kirklees is in the middle of a cost-cutting programme which will lead to 1,500 job losses.
“In this climate of austerity and looming cuts I feel this 20-page full-colour magazine should be one of the first things to go,” he said.
“People at the council are losing their jobs and, for this sort of money, you could employ 12 full-time home care workers to help older and vulnerable people in their homes.”
The council produces seven editions per year of Kirklees Together at a cost of £30,500 per issue. However, the NHS contributes £3,000 to each edition, leaving council taxpayers with an annual bill of £192,000.
Clr Smithson admitted yesterday that the magazine was useful – but said the cost could not be justified when Kirklees was cutting its workforce from 11,200 to 9,700.
