The Taxpayers’ Alliance has criticised cash-strapped Perth and Kinross Council for wasting nearly £50,000 on a “needless” office redesign.
A Courier investigation uncovered the details of the council HQ refurbishment project, authorised by senior management as a swathe of budget cuts was announced. A total of £49,031 was spent converting a second floor office at 2 High Street into a meeting room at the start of last year.
However, less than a year later, it was decided the space was better used as an office and hundreds of pounds were spent changing it back again. Some of the money was used to refit blinds and reinstate a door entry system.
A council source said committee staff, many of whom face uncertain futures, had been against the project and added that the “outrageous” meeting room cost almost £1000 a week.
Campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance Charlotte Linacre said it highlighted the “typically lax” attitude towards the use of public money.
“It’s shocking that so much was spent on an office redesign in the first place while taxpayers were tightening their belts and the U-turn shows just what a bad decision it was,” she said. “Councils must stop being so chronically wasteful with money.
“It’s not acceptable to continue spending on needless and costly projects and it shows a typically lax attitude towards taxpayers’ hard-earned cash. The council’s top priority as they reassess budgets must be to cut out this sort of waste and stamp out bad habits.”
In February’s annual budget meeting council leaders announced a series of measures to help the local authority save £23 million over the next three years.
Reductions have been made to support for parent councils, grounds maintenance and tourism support, while more money will be saved through the closure of 10 kids’ clubs, a reduction of street cleaning and cutting the opening hours of libraries and museums and community campus access.
Savings have also been made through efficiency measures, voluntary severance for 74 staff and not filling 232 vacant posts.
Scottish Conservative candidate for Perthshire North Murdo Fraser said the SNP-led administration needed to justify its spending to the people of Perth and Kinross.
Responding to The Courier’s Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the council confirmed the decision to carry out the refurbishment was taken by the head of democratic services with the endorsement of the chief executive’s service senior management team.
A spokesman for the FOI team said, “The £49,031 conversion took place following the identification of a need for additional meeting room accommodation. The meeting room was used for one year before a subsequent decision to relocate staff within 2 High Street was taken as part of a project to review the delivery of human resources function across the council.
“A total of £410.30 was spent on new window blinds and a door entry system prior to the rooms being used as office space again.”