| Dear Dame, |
I trust you are suitably embattlemented against the onslaught of the dreaded virus.
The brave postman has delivered the Royal Borough’s rate demand safely to my doormat.
Alas, it seems that the Borough’s highly paid financial experts are unable to do percentages.
The demand correctly shows that Sadim Khan’t has greedily taken an extra 3.6% this year to support his disastrous administration.
Nothing like a bit of political point-scoring.....
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| CAUGHT OUT ON THE HOUSECHEATING! |
The demand also shows that Lizzie’s famous frugality at Hornton Street has led to only a 2% increase for her administration.
Imagine my puzzlement, when the overall increase in my bill is not somewhere between 2% and 3.6%, but 3.9%; an increase beyond Sadim’s fevered imaginings.
Have the aforesaid experts discovered some magical new mathematics, beyond what I laboured to learn in my undergraduate degree and PhD?
No. They have simply told a BIG fib.
The demand states that the % change in both parts of the Royal Boroughs take (Precept and Adult Social Care Precept) is 2%. Indeed they polish their halo further with a footnote that “the actual Council Tax increase for RBKC is 1.99%. When rounded to 1 decimal point (sic.) it appears as 2.0%”
Not so.
Take Band G as an example. The bill states:
RBKC Change % Change
£1,412.20 £28.86 2.0
Actually, the % is 2.06746%, which rounded to 1 decimal place is 2.1%.
But there is worse to come, much worse, when we look at the RBKC Adult Social Care Precept. The bill states:
Precept Change % Change
£95.73 £29.00 2.0
Actually, the % is 43.4587%, which rounded to 1 decimal place is 43.5%.
So the change in Dizzie Lizzie’s total take is actually 3.9901 %, which rounded to 1 decimal place is 4.0% not 2.0%.
Lizzie may think that the Dame’s grasp of figures is such that she can’t spot such a fib, but I think the old dear may not be quite so daft.
Indeed her offence at being misled in this way and with Lizzie’s greed even exceeding Khan’t’s, when so many residents of the Borough are struggling, might result in some breakages of the Waterford crystal.
Your numerate servant,
Thank goodness RBKC has residents who keep their eyes on the finances. Because the Leader leads a Cabinet who obviously don't.
ReplyDeleteOnce again we see clearly why Mr Campbell was forced, many years ago, to take away dizzy's cheque book and credit cards in order to preserve the family finances
The picture of dizzy and her house in Sloane Square suggests that some of her paving stones are "raised" and she may trip over. Surprising because they look like the York Stone replacements that Cllr Moylan was so enthusiastic about
DeleteDizzy trip up? Bliss
DeleteFor the last 2 weeks Holland Walk (the road and cycle track in Holland Park leading from Kensington High Street to Holland Park Avenue) has been under renovation and resurfacing. It is a road that I use daily. It does not require any maintenance.
ReplyDeleteBut of course it is the end of the Financial Year to April 2020. The roads budget from Central Government has not been spent. And any shortfall has to be returned. So the annual RBKC circus is underway to find pavements and roads to dig up in order to spend the budget.
There is a bunch of people in Hornton Street who should be hung, drawn and quartered.
Why is Labour not raising hell? Why has EDC gone quiet??
And pavement works going on in Phillimore and Argyl Roads - two of the most expensive streets in the Borough
DeleteThis plague of rushing to spend unspent budgets is an abuse of power that more than the Royal Borough is guilty of. But in these times it is a failure of Leadership to stop this dishonest practice which fritters away hard earned tax payers money
ReplyDeleteSelf servers met first hand, working throughout RBKC; from interims to to the top across departments. Too many poor performing interims from other locals authorities sitting it out, at RBKC, meanwhile costs increase and get passed onto residents across all services.
ReplyDeleteIf the Dame's source of information is correct and accurate, then this is a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteAll the Dame can say was that these calculations were made by a well known local resident with a professional understanding of public finance analysis. It falls to the Council to disprove him
ReplyDeletePlease sign and share.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-reverse-the-dangerous-coronavirus-bill-hc-bill-122-rushed-through-parliament-last-week