Council bosses branded ‘Scrooge-like’
Taxpayers’ alliance welcomes move to save funds at cash-strapped local authority
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North-east council bosses were last night branded Scrooge-like after scrapping their Christmas cards to save money.
Aberdeenshire Council has told staff and councillors that it will not be printing corporate cards this year, as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
Instead, the local authority, which faces a £10million hole in its budget next year, is spreading festive cheer via internet e-cards.
The move has been welcomed by a taxpayers’ group, but one councillor said the local authority was “missing the point of Christmas”.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “As an organisation that is fully committed to reducing our carbon footprint, Aberdeenshire Council decided not to produce a printed corporate Christmas card this year.
“This is partly to do with cutting down on costs, but more importantly cutting the waste that printed cards generate.”
The Taxpayers’ Alliance welcomed the move, saying it hoped the money saved could be translated into council tax reductions next year.
A spokeswoman said: “I think this is a very good way of saving money.
“Lots of councils across the UK are actually spending more on Christmas cards and decoration this year, which is unacceptable in a recession.
“E-cards are a great way of showing the taxpayers of Aberdeenshire that the council is committed to saving money.”
Peterhead South and Cruden councillor Sam Coull said a bit of Christmas cheer would have been welcomed at the council however.
He said: “I believe a certain Mr Ebenezer Scrooge must have joined the council's audit department, while the ghost of his late friend, Jacob Marley, has started stalking the corridors of Woodhill House rattling chains to loud echoes of ‘Bah humbug’.
“This is a time for giving.”
The local authority has so far refused to rule out service cuts to deal with the £10million deficit expected in next year’s budget.
Finance bosses at the council have warned that similar or larger deficits can be expected in each of the next five years, and possibly beyond that.
Earlier this year head of finance Derek Yule said the authority is facing a major battle to “shield” vital services from the funding crisis.
“Beyond 2010-11 the financial picture looks increasingly bleak,” he said.
Readers' Comments
Heavens !! A Local Authority that actually makes sensible savings without hurting anyone !!! Nice one Abereenshire.
Ron Campbell
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Well done - not only does this reduce the councils carbon footprint it also saves money. Far from being Scrooge they are being very sensible and behaving properly with the taxpayers money. I hope that those complaining are going to be careful with their own money this Christmas or perhaps they'll just spend anyway and then complain about Christmas being too expensive when they end up with large credit card bills in January.
Richard Kent
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more like they are saving money to be used on increasing their pay/pension/expences before the next local elections
Thomas Owenson
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