The LibDem Cabinet of Eastbourne Borough Council is “not fit for purpose” and there has been a call from Conservative group leader, Cllr Robert Smart, for the Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance to resign.
Cllr Smart says that "The Cabinet, led by these two Councillors, approved a Treasury Management Annual Report which through incompetence (or design) completely ignored £47 million of external debt, reporting the total as £113 million, not £160 million.
"The £113 million of debt is long-term debt at relatively low interest rates, but the £47 million is short-term debt (up to one year) at variable market interest rates with no repayment plan.
"It is shocking that no Cabinet member raised the alarm, prompting me to question whether they had actually read the Report before approval. Even after I had pointed out this gross omission all of the LibDem Councillors voted to approve such an obviously flawed report.
"To help explain the position I said: “Its like a house purchase with a 70% longterm mortgage but the residual 30% paid for on credit cards which have to be continually rolled over at variable market rates!” To continue the analogy, £6 million of “mortgage” repayments last year were effectively paid for with credit cards. No doubt householders will understand this folly.
"Those in business and those carefully budgeting household expenditure may be alarmed to know that LibDem Councillors have in the past rejected my proposals for the publication of Council cash flows for scrutiny.
"At the most recent Cabinet meeting I asserted that there was an absence of financial control in an organisation that couldn’t estimate last year’s annual costs within 20% just 2 months before the year end", added Cllr Smart.
