Pembrokeshire County Council is so cash-strapped that it is raising council tax by an inflation-busting 5% for the next several years and is planning to introduce full cost recovery for a large number of services.

The uplift in council tax in 2017/2018 is set to raise £3.3 million with £4 million being pencilled in for increased charges for services.

At the same time, it is toying with the idea of moving to three-weekly black bag collections.

Indeed, I’ve heard rumours that we might have to get used to keeping our black bags in the garage (if we have one) for a month at a time.

All this, and more, because the Welsh Government has cut the authority’s revenue support grant leaving it with a funding gap of £10.7 million.

But here’s the rub: £7.3 million of that is set to be taken straight out of the pockets of the public in council tax increases and charges and only £3.4 million from efficiency savings.

Whether this two-thirds – one-third split is fair is the question members should be asking, especially as it is likely that these costs will fall most heavily on those who can least afford to pay.

Meanwhile Old Grumpy has been doing some research into the council’s published accounts which include a table showing the number of staff paid between £60,000 and £100,000.

What this shows is that in 2013/2014 – excluding directors, who are paid well in excess of £100,000 – there were 35 such posts but two years later in 2015/2016 (the last year for which records are available) it shot up to 46 – a 31% increase.

………………………..2013/2014…….2015/2016

£60-65,000 ………………13……………….17
£65-70,000……………….3…………………5
£70-75,000……………….5………………….1
£75-80,000……………….2…………………8
£80-85,000……………….6…………………3
£85-90,000……………….3…………………6
£90-95,000……………….2…………………3
£95-100,000……………..1…………………3

Total……………………..35……………….46

At a rough estimate the cost to the council is an extra £1 million a year.

Another interesting statistic is that, in 2015/2016, the median salary in the council was £17,300.

For those like me who get confused between mean, median and mode, this means that the same number of people earn less than £17,300 as earn more.

What is interesting about this number is that it is slightly less than the £17,500 taxpayers’ contribution to the pension fund of one of the directors.

On the subject of the increase in the number of highly-paid officers, there has been some controversy recently over the creation of a new post of head of transformation (salary £80,000-£100,000 + trimmings).

To monitor this exercise the council has established a transformation board made up of three officers and three elected members.

This board was first mentioned at a seminar back in November and when an alert Grumpette asked about its composition she was told that the leader had appointed Cllrs David Simpson, Pat Davies and Keith Lewis.

Since then I have been trying to ascertain whether the leader has powers under the constitution to make such appointments.

On 14 November, I emailed the chief executive:

“I was a bit concerned to be told at the recent seminar that the Leader had appointed three members to a panel overseeing transformation.

On what authority were these appointments made?”

On the same day the chief executive informed me: “Regarding the Leaders ‘appointments’ to the transformation team, I don’t believe he requires any more authority to do so than that which comes with being Leader.”

This sounds very similar to the Royal Prerogative that was the subject of the Supreme Court’s deliberations on whether the Prime Minister has the power to trigger Article 50 without first obtaining Parliamentary approval.

As was widely expected, the answer was in the negative on the grounds that the various European Treaties have required Parliament to pass laws to bring them into effect.

And the principle seems to be that what Parliament giveth only Parliament can taketh away.

The Royal Prerogative, a hangover from the days of absolute Monarchy, covers those powers which Parliament has chosen to leave in the hands of the Crown (Government).

No such powers reside in local authorities, which are creatures of statute.

When my email to the chief executive dated 12 December: “Has any progress been made on the issue I first raised on 14 November i.e. whether the constitution allows the Leader unlimited powers to make appointments to the transformation board?” went unanswered, I tried again.

On 6 January I asked: “Can I take your silence on this as an indication that no such power is vested in the leader?” which drew the response from the chief executive that he hadn’t been silent because he had told me on 14 November that just being leader was authority enough.

I replied:

“My understanding is that, in a constitutional democracy under the rule of law, nobody, not even the leader, has any powers other than those granted by the constitution.

That was the question I asked in my email of 12 December and which isn’t answered by a mere assertion that “I don’t believe he requires any more authority to do so than that which comes with being Leader.”

Of course, if you can point me to some provision in the constitution that bestows such a power to the leader, that will be the end of the matter.”

The rest, as they say, is silence.

Looks like I’ll have to take it up with the authority’s Monitoring Officer.

Care to share?

Some weeks ago, I published a post in which I claimed that there had been a grant overpayment of more than £100,000 in respect of an office block in Johnston.

I sent my calculations to PCC’s finance department who passed them on to Carmarthenshire County Council – the lead authority for the grant scheme.

After several weeks’ delay CCC responded that its internal audit department had produced a report which found my calculations to be flawed, and since then I have been trying to get hold of a copy of the report in order to see where I went wrong.

On 18 January I emailed PCC:

“Any chance of sending me a copy of Mr Moore’s [director of finance at CCC] explanation?”

The reply came by return:

Out of courtesy, I asked Chris [Moore] whether he was happy to share the report and he wasn’t sure it was appropriate. He would prefer I provide you with details of the outcome.

I don’t see why you can’t have a copy of the report, but to make sure I don’t fall foul of the agreement with Carmarthenshire, I have asked the Head of Legal Services for confirmation.

I replied the same day: “Seeing the outcome is one thing understanding the reasoning behind it is another”, and when no reply came forth I emailed again on 20 January asking: “Has the Head of Legal Services pronounced on this?” and on 23 January the council replied:

Dear Mike,

She [head of legal services] has passed it to one of her Solicitors to consider.

I spoke to Chris again and he said that if Legal Services are comfortable with the report bring circulated, it would be fine with him providing there was a confidentiality clause in it.

As soon as I have heard from Legal Services, I will let you know.

It seems there is some heavy-duty thinking going on because the legal eagles have yet to reach a conclusion.

To help them on their way I would say that I will not be signing any confidentiality clauses.

This is public money and the public have a right to be assured that it has been properly spent.