THE Echo reports (December 15) that Bournemouth council expects to be unable to cover increased Adult Social Care costs with the extra two per cent council tax increase being allowed by the government.
According to leader Cllr John Beesley these extra finances gleaned from Bournemouth’s taxpayers “only goes a small way to meeting increasing costs and demands”.
Does Cllr Beesley not understand the meaning of the word ‘small’? I would say he does not. I would say Bournemouth’s taxpayers deserve to be kept properly informed and not treated so disrespectfully.
The Echo article presented data showing that the two per cent extra council tax in Poole is considered entirely adequate to cover the full extra Adult Social Care budget. This allows any remaining increase in Poole’s council tax to be spent on other services.
Yet this is not so in Bournemouth and Cllr Beesley’s comments fail to address this discrepancy.
Further, this expected ‘overspend’ is also exaggerated. The two per cent extra provides three-quarters of the funding. To describe three-quarters as ‘only a small way towards’ the total is a gross exaggeration.
DR MARTIN RODGER
Bloxworth Road, Poole
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