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As I write this, the county council election results are coming in and jubilant councillors are descending on county hall. However, I can't help wondering if they will feel the same when the effects of picking up problems handed to local government kick in over the next few years. Local government is regularly used by central government to do the unpopular things. Councils can then be viewed as having presided over creating a mess while dealing with it by raising local taxes (although Whitehall did get its timing wrong on the FE colleges transfer and had to perform a short-term bail-out). The temptation to do more of this could be overwhelming for the next government. As the recession unwinds and the scale of borrowing hits home, there will have to be large cuts in public spending and tax increases. The current indications are that local government are in the firing line. So our newly-elected councillors can expect to be called upon to make some tough decisions on a variety of recently transferred services – in the name of localism, of course – that will be accompanied by inadequate funding and increasing demand against a backdrop of ever-increasing efficiency savings targets. While these councillors are putting in a huge amount of effort and working long hours to provide their residents with the best possible services under tough economic conditions, the public will subject members to unprecedented scrutiny. Although councillors generally receive modest allowances for the amount of work they do, the degree of suspicion towards any elected member in the current climate is such that all payments will be exposed to the public gaze. I suspect the beaming faces I have seen may look a bit more gloomy when the reality of the task hits home, although I'm sure it will take a lot more than that to get councillors down for more than a fleeting moment. Phil Walker is director of finance at Surrey CC

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FINANCE

Money Matters: Our new councillors face tough decisions

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