Your say / Politics
Open letter: ‘Ferguson must pay for magazine’
After George Ferguson defended a promotional council magazine released less than a year from mayoral elections, Lib Dem Tim Kent is calling for him to pay for it out of his own pocket.
Dear Mayor,
I am writing to you in regards to the above leaflet.
is needed now More than ever
Yesterday you wrote to all councillors to defend your use of £35,000 of public money to produce an ‘Our City’ magazine. I received the magazine today and have looked at it with regard to the objective that you set that it was necessary to inform residents about services. At best I would say a quarter of the magazine is dedicated to this objective, far more though seems to be dedicated to promoting you.
I realise that next year’s elections are now fast approaching and that you wish to set out your stall to the electorate but they should not be expected to pay for your promotional material. Government has been very clear that councils should not waste taxpayers’ money on promotional newspapers and magazines. Bristol City Council has also been very clear in this – cutting their production several years ago. Every penny counts in local government and the council needs to get its act together if it wants to save more money.
The money you have spent on this propaganda for yourself could have been spent to keep a threatened library open, build a new zebra crossing outside of a school. I have a dozen or so houses at risk of sever funding that cannot get the necessary flood protection because the cost is £30,000 and the council does not have the budget.
At every budget you have insisted on increasing Council Tax despite central government offering a grant to help pay for a freeze. For the last three years the Liberal Democrats proposed a freeze in Bristol’s Council Tax. We would partly do this by ensuring the amount the Council spends on this sort of self-publicity never happens again.
I ask that you do the decent thing and refund the council the full cost of the printing, distribution and design of the magazine from your own campaign funds. I think on reflection you will agree that this was an unwise use of public money and that refunding Bristol taxpayers is the correct course.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Kent
Picture from Lib Dem campaign video, via Christian Martin.
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