Cost of council services to rise in York (From York Press)
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Cost of council services to rise in York
6:36pm Monday 26th November 2012 in News
By Mark Stead, Political Reporter
YORK residents face higher bills for a raft of services in the New Year, after council bosses proposed wide-ranging price hikes.
City of York Council officials have drawn up various price increases to come into force on January 1. They include a £35 rise in the cost of adult cremations and higher prices for memorials and entries in York Crematorium’s Book of Remembrance.
Charges for collections of bulky household waste will also go up, as will some charges at the Hazel Court waste recycling centre. Libraries payments and fines will rise, as will the cost of tennis and bowls courts and allotments.
Council finance chiefs said the increases for the services affected would be about five per cent across the board. bringing in an extra £32,000 this year and £128,000 in 2013/14. The plans will be discussed by the council cabinet next Tuesday.
At the same meeting, city leaders will be asked to spend £25,000 from its Economic Infrastructure Fund (EIF) to meet half the cost of buying a boat to be converted into a floating “arts barge” venue.
In a written report, Katie Stewart, head of economic development, and finance director Ian Floyd proposed the council invest up to £100,000 in the scheme overall, with three further £25,000 payments at later dates as the business plan progresses. The total cost is set to be about £275,000, with the balance coming from sponsorship and fundraising.
Ms Stewart and Mr Floyd said a boat needing “full renovation” had already been found and was expected to cost about £50,000 initially. The Arts Barge Project was launched in 2009 as a way of “reviving York’s community arts scene” by creating a “unique floating arts venue in the city centre”.
Ms Stewart and Mr Floyd said the project was in urgent need of a venue from which it can run its activities, generate revenue and consolidate its status as a creative hub.
They said it would be created from a reclaimed river barge and include a cafe bar with performance and exhibition space, as well as retail and workshop activities.
The cabinet has also been asked to spend £25,000 from the EIF on sending a delegation to an international property fair called MIPIM next year, saying it could showcase the city’s property portfolio. A further £37,000 will be invested in York’s Christmas lights and to cover income lost by offering a day of free parking at council-run car parks in the run-up to Christmas.
Comments(19)
York1900
says...
6:01am Tue 27 Nov 12
They are cutting services but can find money to waste on The Arts Barge
PUT THE PEOPLE OF YORK FIRST
AND STOP WASTING MONEY ON VANITY PROJECTS
Pete the Brickie
says...
7:06am Tue 27 Nov 12
Warning the above post contains extreme sarcasm.
Buzz Light-year
says...
7:45am Tue 27 Nov 12
By wording the intro paragraph "Cuts to services but funding for arts project" they know exactly the response they will get.
ReflectiveVest has been especially suckered.
The article actually says that the council will *be asked* to spend up to *£100,000* in £25,000 instalments over a period of time.
That isn't "a quarter of a million of our money"
The £275,000 figure includes *sponsorship and fundraising*
The ArtsBarge Project has been hard at work fundraising ever since it started.
If people took the time to read articles instead of just seeing the word "council" and vomiting their pavlova all over their keyboard....
Shouter
says...
8:13am Tue 27 Nov 12
amike
says...
8:53am Tue 27 Nov 12
ReflectiveVest
says...
8:59am Tue 27 Nov 12
York1900
says...
9:02am Tue 27 Nov 12
Buzz Light-year wrote:The Press does not mention cuts
The Press misleading readers, winding them up and whipping up the usual knee-jerks.
By wording the intro paragraph "Cuts to services but funding for arts project" they know exactly the response they will get.
ReflectiveVest has been especially suckered.
The article actually says that the council will *be asked* to spend up to *£100,000* in £25,000 instalments over a period of time.
That isn't "a quarter of a million of our money"
The £275,000 figure includes *sponsorship and fundraising*
The ArtsBarge Project has been hard at work fundraising ever since it started.
If people took the time to read articles instead of just seeing the word "council" and vomiting their pavlova all over their keyboard....
my post did
Buzz Light-year
says...
9:09am Tue 27 Nov 12
ReflectiveVest wrote:No you're confused. It says £100,000 overall.
Buzz, you are right about the way the Press spins its news, and you are also right about the facts in this case, but only up to a point. It's actually £100,000 from the Council, but then 'three further payments of £25,000' on top of that. The whole thing thus adds up not to a quarter of a million as I originally and wrongly said, but a mere £175,000 of our money, which is of course fine and nothing to worry about. It's not as if there's anything else that could be spent on.
£25,000 now and three further £25,000s.
They may just pay the first and then not need to pay the rest.
Buzz Light-year
says...
9:21am Tue 27 Nov 12
meme
says...
11:05am Tue 27 Nov 12
This is our money not the councils and they should ask us to vote on vanity projects to see what response they gat
If this project has been raising money i would like to know how much they have actually raised to date...Sems to ne silence on that
This barge is next to the bonding warehouse
its an eyesore and wants sinking not refurbishing. It stopped people buidding for the Bonding warehouse as it was a noisy scruffy floating wreck
We have better things to do than waste moey on these things If its wanted it should be self funding by those who want it; its not for the council to waste our money on it
Buzz Light-year
says...
1:21pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Normally, you can slip them a press release and they fall over themselves to reprint it as an advertorial.
So you have to wonder why The Press chose to stick the knife into the Arts Barge project?
Why report it in this way?
Why didn't they run it as two stories?
This is from the capsule header on the main page not this page:
CITY leaders are set to back a £275,000 Arts Barge project to create a "floating arts venue" in York - but many bills for council services are expected to rise in the New Year.
Makes it look like taxpayers are shouldering £275,000 doesn't it?
Put next to "bills rising" and it makes it look much worse.
This page says leaders will *be asked* to pay £25,000. They might refuse.
£25,000 is a tenth of a quarter mill.
The further three instalments of £25,000 each may or may not be necessary or may be refused at a later date.
To be clear, it's £25,000. Less than they are being asked to pay for christmas lights and the same as for this:
The cabinet has also been asked to spend £25,000 from the EIF on sending a delegation to an international property fair called MIPIM next year, saying it could showcase the city’s property portfolio.
So what does The Press have against the project?
Why are readers so gullible?
/kev/null
says...
1:28pm Tue 27 Nov 12
meme wrote:When the Arts Barge was up and running for three weeks in 2011 they used a different boat - Room 58 - which was on loan from the Waterways Museum in Goole and went straight back there when the event ended. The boat that has been on that landing since then is nothing to do with the Arts Barge Project.
Why oh why do we waste money on these things
This is our money not the councils and they should ask us to vote on vanity projects to see what response they gat
If this project has been raising money i would like to know how much they have actually raised to date...Sems to ne silence on that
This barge is next to the bonding warehouse
its an eyesore and wants sinking not refurbishing. It stopped people buidding for the Bonding warehouse as it was a noisy scruffy floating wreck
We have better things to do than waste moey on these things If its wanted it should be self funding by those who want it; its not for the council to waste our money on it
Still, I suppose we shouldn't allow mere facts to get in the way of a complaint.
meme
says...
5:37pm Tue 27 Nov 12
However I would like to know why the public purse should be expected to susidise this and how much has been raised by the fundraising that has been going for ages as i suspect that will show the level of interest in this project from the general public
Buzz Light-year
says...
9:16pm Tue 27 Nov 12
I would like to know why the public purse should be expected to susidise this
Because it benefits the community, the people of York.
It could provide a place for local musicians, writers and artists young and old to develop their talents and showcase them. It could provide a place for the rest of us local people to enjoy those talents and go out for drinks, food and to enjoy that local talent.
It's a no-brainer.
Invest in some fairy lights for a month so the mostly corporate city centre traders do ok this spending season or invest in the future of up and coming local talent?
It's obvious which benefits the people of York more.
Guess you've never had children who wanted to have a go at something.
/kev/null
says...
1:10am Wed 28 Nov 12
meme wrote:I can't give you any fundraising figures (I'm not involved in the Arts Barge Project myself I'm just a local musician) but I can tell you that the barge was sold out for every event during the three weeks of the Festival Of The Rivers in 2011. And the clientele was very diverse - from 18 year olds to pensioners, and most nights they were enjoying the same entertainment and hanging out and talking to eachother - how many other places does that happen?
If this is not the boat then I am happy to admit I was incorrect.... My apologies
However I would like to know why the public purse should be expected to susidise this and how much has been raised by the fundraising that has been going for ages as i suspect that will show the level of interest in this project from the general public
Things like this are the reasons why they have developed so much good will around the project, and this is what makes it something the council are keen to support and see flourish.
Sure you could take that £100,000 and buy a lot of rock salt, or improve a small junction somewhere, and it's more difficult to put a value on something like a floating arts venue so they are an easy target for complaints during times like these, but honestly if you'd seen how the place worked in 2011 I think it would make you think twice.
Dr Brian
says...
9:23am Wed 28 Nov 12
I reckon our Council leader is turning into a Liberal Democrat just nodding in agreement and doing nothing to lead! If he truly cared about the things that matter in this City he would have been getting his PR machine into gear and shouting this ridiculous waste of money down.
inthesticks
says...
11:23am Wed 28 Nov 12
/kev/null
says...
12:04pm Wed 28 Nov 12
inthesticks wrote:Actually there is only one that provides a diverse range of entertainment - The Basement Bar at City Screen.
Surely there are plenty of venues that are not floating on the river but made of bricks where people can showcase their talents and have a few drinks etc.?
But they only book existing acts, they don't create new acts, they don't provide a place for musicians, actors, dancers and artists to collaborate, they don't involve their customers in performance, they don't organise master classes for musicians or dance tuition - all these are things I've seen the Arts Barge guys do already and that is by no means a comprehensive list either.
There is literally nothing like it in York, floating or otherwise.
ReflectiveVest says...
9:45pm Mon 26 Nov 12