Nottingham City Council will spend up to £150,000 on a review looking at how it can boost its income in a move which one councillor has labelled "bizarre." As part of broader efforts to fill a financial gap of £32 million next year, Nottingham City Council recently said that it would be carrying out a review of fees and charges across the area.
This will include fees for parking, cremations and burials, as well as charges at leisure centres and cafés. The review was one of several measures proposed to fill the council's financial hole, with others including a tax rise of 5%.
Measures such as the review of fees and charges required a period of public consultation, which is currently running until January 25. Nottingham City Council now says that rather than having its own staff carry out the fees and charges review, it will be done by a consultancy firm at a cost of up to £150,000.
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The council has approved the spend under a delegated decision, the decision approved on December 20. In documents published as part of the decision, the council says that "internal resources are not available at this time to take this work on."
Councillor Andrew Rule, the leader of the Conservatives at Nottingham City Council, said: "Part of what the budget is looking at is increasing the fees for cafés like the one we have on the embankment and the council was expecting to generate an extra £20,000 every year over the next three years from that.
"But if we're spending £150,000 on consultancy for this review then we're down £90,000 if we take that element alone. I do think this is a bit bizarre because you would think that the expertise for this could be found in-house.
"I do understand that several valued colleagues have left us over the last 18 months but the Chief Executive is in the process of filling the staffing gap in the council. Consultants always seem to do very well out of Nottingham City Council."
The council has previously said that it has a "serious" shortage of staff and that it is unable to provide "competent financial advice and support" in some areas as a result. More than £1 million of spending was therefore approved earlier in the year to fund temporary support in this area.
The council has also previously hired consultants for the improvement of its children's services, rated as 'inadequate' by Ofsted, at a cost of £6.5 million. But as part of its other budget proposals, Nottingham City Council is also planning to cut 110 jobs.
A funding gap of £3.2 million still exists next year despite all the current plans and the council is therefore warning that further savings will need to be found. That work will be taking place from now until a meeting of the authority's Executive Board next February, when an updated plan will be presented.
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