Anger at £5,000 bill for council’s mayoral dinner

Figures revealed yesterday show Harrogate Council’s previous mayor-making meal cost taxpayers £4,827, and this year’s event is expected to cost a similar amount.

Last year’s dinner and drinks event, which was attended by 180 guests, was at the Harrogate International Centre (HIC) – which is owned and managed at arm’s length by the council and has announced at least 33 redundancies, affected staff to be given notice by next Friday.

Coun Stan Beer, who spoke out against the cost of the ceremony at a council meeting earlier this year, said that as the cuts start to bite, the amount will be a bitter pill for residents to swallow.

“It is just not acceptable”, he said. “We have cut everything right across the board but we have only cut the mayoral budget by a very small amount.

“We are also making cuts in staffing levels as well, but we are still continuing to pay for this when we should be looking to cut our cloth.

“This doesn’t put out the right signs to the general public.

“Employees at Harrogate Council are having a tough time and we shouldn’t be carrying on as if nothing has changed.”

A spokesman for the council said the cost of this year’s mayor-making had not yet been finalised, as the number of guests who had accepted their invitations had not been confirmed.

The new Mayor of Harrogate, Les Ellington, who is to take up his post in May, said there had been cuts to the mayoral budget announced as part of the council’s bid to claw back nearly £3m in the next two years, and the position provided good value for money for the Harrogate area.

“The entire mayoral budget has been cut down”, he said.

“The role of mayor, carried out correctly, has got to be a positive one for any place.

“There is a positive cost that a mayor brings, particularly in Harrogate.”

Coun Ellington said he was not aware of the details of this year’s ceremony.

Last year’s mayor-making ceremony at the HIC worked out at a cost of £26.81 per head for the Thursday dinner and drinks reception.

Harrogate Council has announced it is slashing spending by £1.7m this year and a further £1.1m in 2012.

Parks and leisure activities will bear the brunt, with the authority reducing the number of flower beds in the town and only recruiting seasonal park keepers in the future.

Leisure centres will also lose activities and creche services.

The cabinet member for finance and resources, Alan Skidmore, has insisted residents and visitors will notice little difference around the town and said the council had protected grants to charities such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

The council’s most controversial budget proposals – to introduce charges for disabled parking and close public toilets – have been dropped.

In a meeting earlier this month, Harrogate International Centre chiefs announced 33 compulsory redundancies.

A Unison union spokesman said that taking into account voluntary departures and some vacant posts not being filled, up to half the 100-strong workforce could ultimately go.

The HIC is worth around £180m a year to the Harrogate economy and attracts 260,000 visitors annually to conference, exhibition and entertainment events, but last year it recorded a loss of more than £1m.

The HIC is currently undergoing stage one of a £13m overhaul.

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