For those unable to make the Ventnor Town Council meeting last night, the precept was agreed by councillors at £149,500.
A named vote took place with Cllrs Scoccia, Perks, George, Garlick, Stubbings, Robinson and Lucas voting in favour and Cllrs Bartlett and Mew voting against.
A number of factors have led to the increase this year, but for more detail, see the speech below that was read out by Ventnor Mayor, Cllr Chris Welsford.
This proposed precept, centres on the need to provide adequate funding for this town council to lawfully fulfil its obligations to the Residents of Ventnor, the Staff who work in the Winter Gardens and the Officers of the Council who are charged with implementing councillor’s decisions.
The operation of the Winter Gardens is not a small undertaking as has been suggested by some, but a substantial business undertaking with a potential turnover of around £500,000 employing a large number of staff.
Whilst the Town Council does not own the building, it manages it under licence from the Isle of Wight Council and is responsible for the safety of employees and members of the public including those performing in the building.
In late 2009 the Town Council received a Health and Safety report which highlighted many serious failings and recommended numerous thing that are needed to bring the building up to scratch. Some of these thing are matters of law and all will require expense in the form of officer hours and remedial works.
In addition we have received some seventy recommendations from the internal audit all of which have to addressed and require officer time and additional staff.
Many of these issue should have been addressed by previous councils but were largely ignored as fears of the financial consequences grew. The building has fallen into a state of disrepair and we have inadequate staff to lawfully operate the Winter Gardens. The time has come to bite the bullet and begin the difficult process of turning this around.
We cannot continue to operate this building without adequate staffing and we have to ensure that the Health and safety issues are addressed.
I recognise that this will mean a significant increase in the amount of money we ask of the Ventnor Council Tax Payers but if we are serious about keeping the Winter Gardens as an asset for the town then we need to put our money where our mouth is.
Central to all of this is the employment of a full time General Manager, skilled and experienced in running an operation of this scale and able to increase substantially the number of events held here and control the risk taken in generating additional income. That person will be crucial if we are to grow the revenue potential of the Winter Gardens and ensure that costs are properly controlled.
Without a professional general manager this venture will fail and the Winter Gardens will be left struggling to survive.
There is no room for half hearted measures. A part time manager will not be a serious commitment to this time consuming and challenging role. A part time manager will very soon become a full time manager but without a budget for a salary that reflects the time and commitment required this person will very soon loss interest and go the way of all previous managers and then we will have failed. [We have to be prepared to pay a sensible rate for this person and that is what is proposed. Having researched the job advertisements for managers in catering and entertainments roles, what is proposed is realistic. The post should be offered on an initial 12 months basis with a 6 month probationary period to ensure performance reviews can be conducted. Targets must be set and our new general manager will someone who recognises the importance of performance and welcomes challenge.]
The precept I propose allows us to do this and at the same time ensure that we are able fulfil our other obligations without struggling.
Having said that we have to work hard to ensure that the bar and catering facility are producing the required level of profit which is roughly equivalent to the concession fee that was taken in previous years.
We should expect the events side of the facility to generate 150% of the current expected income. These thing will take an effort but they can be achieved.
In the long term, this building will need significant amounts spent on it to enable it to survive but I propose that we do not do this until we have consulted with the residents of our town to determine their views.
Then if they are willing we can make proposals in next years precept to take this to the next phase and look at a renovation of the whole building.
The precept that I propose for the coming year is £149,500 which works out at just over £1 per week per band D council tax payer, an increase of 34 pence per week. (54.21 per annum an increase of 17.64). The saving achieved by employing only a part time manager and shaving this already carefully paired down budget even further will be pence and not worth entertaining.
Finally I want to pay tribute to the staff of this building for their hard work and dedication during the last four very difficult months. They have shown how committed they are to this project and now it is our turn.
