Call to slash Telford council's comms budget from £440,000 to £250,000
A council has confirmed how much its communications budget is following comments made by councillors.
Telford & Wrekin Council approved its medium-term financial plan last week which included an increase in the council tax precept next year of 4.99%.
The council has targeted savings of over £17.5million with £5.6m of that coming from income generation.
During the meeting opposition councillors to the Labour majority raised concerns about the level of spending in the council’s communications budget.
Conservative group leader Andrew Eade questioned the communications budget spend.
He said that the council is currently advertising a job role for head of corporate communications, marketing and external affairs paid up to £70,300 per annum.
Councillor Bill Tomlinson said that he was ‘concerned’ about aspects of the communications budget.
“We get press releases every week which show the favourable things that are going on in this authority,” he said.
“In some ways we’ll be doing ourselves a disservice by not letting the public know on a regular basis what an awful settlement we’ve had from the government and the mess we’ve been put into.
“Sometimes we can seem over-positive about what we do deliver and what we do. We’re not super-human, there will come a time when we’ll have to make cuts and it’s not our fault.”
Councillor Nigel Dugmore said that the council should reduce the communications budget from ‘to a more realistic’ £250,000.
In response Telford & Wrekin Council said that the total communications budget this year is £443,530.
A spokesperson for the council said: “It is right that salaries in the public sector are scrutinized.
“All ambitious, well-run councils invest in effective marketing and communications, because these skills are central to their success.
“Our budget was £443,530 this year, the equivalent of 0.3% of the council’s revenue budget.
“Marketing the council’s leisure offer, theatre and other commercial ventures supported the generation of over £8 million in income to the council this year, the profits from which can be re-invested to protect front line services including social care.
“Not only this, the team work to make residents aware of services and support, answer media and social media enquiries, promote events and consultations, warn and inform people during crisis events such as the pandemic and recruit into vital roles such as foster carers.”
