"Money, it's a crime. Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie."
New storms are brewing tonight over Liverpool Council's budget...
Yesterday, the Liberal Democrat administration was announcing a U-turn on proposals to axe 25 lollipop men and women.
Lobby group downtown Liverpool in Business has launched a campaign demanding the council reverse its plan to charge for city centre parking until 8pm (at the moment it becomes free after six).
Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jack Stopforth is also up in arms about the measure that would raise an additional ã110,000 a year (a relatively small sum for the council).
At a time of recession, don't expect business to take this sitting down.
Labour are planning to start campaigning on the issue of charging residents (in areas where permits are needed) for more than one visitor pass.
This proposal would raise a miniscule ã10,000 per annum - less than ã1K a month.
If Labour mount a successful campaign, will the ã192 a week really be worth the political capital that will be expended?
Last year the big budget debate was over whether the government would allow the city to raise ã20m for Capital of Culture by borrowing or selling assets. The answer was no. Actually the debate over how much cash the government contributed to Capital of Culture continues to be a hotly debated topic even now.
This year the controversy has been over the devil in the detail of the budget.
We haven't heard the last of it yet, but will there me any more U-turns before the budget is finally ratified in March?
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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You betcha there will be more u turns.
This shower couldn't run a **** up in a brewery.
Having paid off the fat cats with astonishing profligacy, they now appear to be bent on punishing ordinary people!
They will not give in so easily on the car parking tho, because they would hate to lose to DLIB.
Meanwhile Joe Anderson will be making hay while the sun shines.
Effectively the city council is trying to ration the number of visitors each home in the city can have!
Nothing very Liberal or Democratic about that!
PS The Australian Pink Floyd are far better!