Resignation call over charity blunder
Reporter: Richard Hooton
Date published: 20 November 2009
OLDHAM’S financial chief has dismissed a call for her to resign over a bungled decision to charge Dr Kershaw’s Hospice business rates.
Plans to charge the Royton hospice and its three charity shops £8,000 a year in rates were quickly reversed by Oldham Council.
But Oldham East and Saddleworth Labour Party chairman Joe Fitzpatrick says Lib-Dem councillor Lynne Thompson, the cabinet member for finance, should resign immediately over the matter.
He said he was astonished Councillor Thompson and her colleagues were unaware of the original decision to levy the charge.
Mr Fitzpatrick added: “This rate relief is extremely important to our local charities, particularly during a recession when most charities’ incomes are under extra pressure. For Councillor Thompson to issue an instruction that she wants to be aware of such decisions in future is frankly pathetic.
“The town can have no confidence in a councillor responsible for the council’s finances and council tax fixing when she has obviously lost control of the unaccountable decisions taken by her officers, who are able to withdraw thousands of pounds from charities without her knowledge.”
But Councillor Thompson responded: “To suggest I should resign is ridiculous. I think it’s 100 per cent political. Dr Kershaw’s should not be used as a political football.”
She explained the decision had been taken by an officer on purely financial rules who was unaware of a long-established policy to grant the rate relief.
As soon as she found out she wrote to Chief Executive Charlie Parker to ask for it to be written into the constitution that such decisions are taken by an officer and member together to ensure it doesn’t happen again, which he has agreed to do.
She added: “We are writing to others who have had such letters.”
The move would have put an extra burden on hospice fund-raisers, who face a constant battle to raise £1.3 million each year towards the £1.7 million running costs.
But Mr Parker said an administrative error had been made in relation to discretionary rate relief (DRR) for charitable organisations and it had been re-instated with immediate effect.
