COUNCILLOR Wilson completely fails to provide any facts to back up his assertions.

He fails to mention that it is his budget that he introduced in March that has gone wrong - not the one inherited from the Labour Group.

He fails to mention that far from improving the financial position of the authority, his first year in office has made the situation far worse.

He fails to mention that there is a forecast budget deficit for 2001/02 of between £1.2 million and £1.7 million and that the emergency measures decided on last Thursday hardly begin to address it.

Let me provide the facts to back this up. What happened in Cllr Wilson's first year of office, 1999/2000? He overspent the revenue budget he inherited by £1,057,000. Even after taking an extra £500,000 from the balances of City Contract Services, the General Fund balances fell from the £846,000 he inherited to £379,000 - the lowest ever level.

What is happening now in 2000/2001? Cllr Wilson refused to provide a contingency fund and promised £485,000 of unspecified savings in his budget. These have failed to materialise - hence last week's emergency package. Worse is to come, for we know that there will be further instalment of cuts in October. Even so, balances are expected to fall even further to £250,000.

What will happen next year? Cllr Wilson accuses Labour of scaremongering over next year's budget. There is, however, a real problem that he will have to tackle soon.

Most of the savings announced last week are for one year only. This leaves his administration with the task of finding similar savings for next year and of restoring balances to a prudent £850,000. The conclusion is inescapable - either there will be a massive increase in Council Tax (somewhere between 27 and 39 per cent) or there will be swingeing cuts in services. On Thursday, Cllr Wilson said there was no problem. Why? Because he proposes to do the budget in a different way. But, whichever way he adds up the figures they will come to the same total in the end. He must cut, tax or both. Alternatively, he could await a visit from the fairy godmother. Unfortunately, her visits cannot be relied upon.

Cllr Ian Barker

Derwent Rd Lancaster