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Council accounts fiasco continues
THE 2019/20 Reading Council accounts have finally been signed off. But it has cost well over £1 million so far and the saga continues.
Labour councillors failed the people of Reading back in 2016 with a complete lack of good accounting standards, financial controls and the hangover is still costing Reading residents millions of pounds.
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Two years ago the Local Democracy Reporter was covering how Labour’s late accounts were costing the Reading tax payer over £1 million. The 2019/20 accounts have only just been signed off. This is two years late. These problems stem from cuts to the council’s finance team which Green councillors opposed.
Who knows what the final cost will be now to the people of Reading? There will be additional fees from the external auditors and the additional cost of the council’s own officers trying to get this right.
It’s only through their efforts that we might finally see accounts filed years late, and possibly not back on track for another two years.
In the end the cost to Reading will likely be in the millions. At a time when we are being squeezed more than ever by the mistakes of reckless politicians this is extremely painful, and its not over yet.
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“When these traffic lights were broken they were causing congestion and pollution so it’s great to have them working again now improved with the new cyclist priority measures. We will keep working to tackle congestion and for healthy, sustainable transport across the town”
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