COUNCIL tax may have to rise to plug public sector pensions

Daily Mail, 1 August 2009

Bob Holloway, who runs the pension scheme for local government workers, has warned the gold-plated final salary schemes are no longer sustainable because people are ‘refusing to die’.

Local authorities are facing a £50 billion shortfall In their pension pots after recklessly investing taxpayers’ money In shares and hedge funds.

The respected Public Service Journal reported that officials are considering a number of ways to tackle the deficit, including raising council tax.

They are also looking at increasing employee contributions, raising the retirement age or cutting public services. Another proposal could see public servants’ pensions based on career-average earnings rather than final salaries.

Essex has £6.5 Billion Shortfall on Infrastructure

From a paper submitted to the Cabinet of Rochford District Council.  The full paper, Strategic Countywide Economic and Housing Issues, can be downloaded here.

“Essex has traditionally taken a significant proportion of economic and housing growth without benefitting from the necessary infrastructure improvements to enable growth to take place in a truly planned and sustainable manner. The paper estimates that the cost of delivering the supporting infrastructure across Essex is some £7.6 billion, with an identified funding gap of £6.5 billion. If Essex is to continue to deliver the levels of development anticipated, then this gap needs to be closed and greater levels of infrastructure investment achieved.”