Mid Suffolk District Council’s budget for 2015/16 is due to be approved at the Council meeting at the end of February. The core budget (of approximately £10 million) is very similar to last year – and the year before. However – there is an additional £2 million, plus over £3 million underspent from previous years, allocated to “delivery plan projects”. This is money for projects intended to “transform” how the Council works and make the Council more sustainable – yet there is no clear overall plan of how this money will be spent and therefore very little transparency or accountability to the public.
In addition the Council is asking councillors to agree potential borrowing of £25 million for future Council projects – again with no detail.
I would like to see far greater transparency and accountability in explaining the Council’s budgets to the general public – and getting the public’s opinion on how the money should be spent.
Rachel Eburne 
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