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17
Nov 2021
County council branded 'utterly unfair' for making local government pay for elections
A county council charged with overseeing local government reorganisation has dismissed claims of being “totally and utterly unfair” to parish, town and city councils by expecting them to fund their own elections next year.
North Yorkshire County Council’s leadership has hit back saying it is powerless to change the potentially financially difficult situation which is expected to face some of the lowest tier authorities, elections for which have been brought forward a year to May.
When the Implementation Board, which is made of representatives of the county and district councils, submitted the Structural Change Order to government to kick start the process of merging the county and seven district councils, it was agreed parish and town council elections should be brought forward a year to align them to elections for the new authority.
The comments of the county council’s ruling Conservative administration follow opposition councillors stating the move would see parishes would be forced to raise money at short notice to cover any election costs.
Objectors have highlighted how some parishes, particularly ones that are self-funding through means such as car parking, do not charge residents a council tax precept, but the election costs could lead to extra council tax charges.
They have emphasised while the Yorkshire Local Councils Association had advised the upcoming elections would be cost-free for parishes, the county was offering contradictory advice that parish, town and city councils should prepare to pay their normal fees for elections.
Cllr Stuart Parsons, the authority’s opposition leader said parishes accrued funding for elections every four years in their annual budget setting, so would not have sufficient set aside to pay for elections next year.
He said as the county council was expecting to save over £250m with the local authority merger, it “could be a little bit more generous” with the parish election expenses.
Cllr Parsons said:
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However, Cllr Carl Les, the authority’s leader, said whether parishes paid for the elections next year or in the future was out of his administration’s hands.
He said it would be entirely up to the new authority to decide whether it made parish and town councils make contributions towards election expenses, but he did not believe holding elections for separate councils at different times represented a fair deal for the county’s taxpayers.
Cllr Les added:
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