Farm sales, Crawley contract, Suffolk shared services, Wyre CEO on Council Tax, US trends

Council farm sales slammed
Councils have been criticised for selling off farming land. According to the Farmers Guardian the number of council-owned farms has plummeted, making it difficult for new farmers to enter the industry. Buckinghamshire’s farm holdings decreased from 47 in 2011 to 30 in 2012, Hertfordshire’s went from 63 to 52 and Surrey from 46 down to 17. A spokesman for Somerset council, which is selling off farms as non-core business, said: “Since 2010, 17 farms have been sold raising capital to pay for large scale projects, like superfast broadband and new classrooms for schools.”

Crawley signs waste contract
Crawley Borough Council is hoping to save £3m following the signing of a seven year, £12m waste contract with Biffa. The company will collect recycling, refuse and garden waste from around 43,000 properties.

Shared services savings for Suffolk
Two West Suffolk councils could save up to £3.5m through sharing offices and management. St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Forest Heath District Council hope to complete their shared service programme by next month and have reduced the number of senior posts including a move to one chief exec.

Wyre Forest chex speaks up on CT
The chief executive of Wyre Forest District Council has warned that further council tax freezes will deepen the council’s financial problems. The authority has frozen council tax for the past three years, but rises from next April and the year after would avoid a £390,000 budget cut. The council is currently consulting on its 2014/15 spending priorities and chief executive Ian Miller said: “The choice is between a two per cent increase or taking the Government grant offered to freeze council tax but that is only worth one per cent in income, so it immediately puts us in a worse financial position… Each year we freeze it, there is no way of catching up down the track.”

US rushes to MMF alternative …
US investors have piled more than $2bn (£1.26bn) into Pimco’s Enhanced Short Maturity Exchange Traded Fund this year. The fund has proven popular as the market seeks alternatives to Money Market Funds, whose existence in their current form is threatened by regulation. The fund invests in short duration investment grade debt. “The fund is an unabashed piece of regulatory arbitrage,” said Morningstar analyst Samuel Lee. “It’s designed to skirt money market fund rules allowing it to own the securities just beyond the bright line that regulators have drawn.”

… And considers swaps ban for government entities
Meanwhile Philadelphia’s city treasurer has warned that a proposed ban on interest rate swaps for government entities will restrict the city’s ability to invest efficiently. Philadelphia is in the state of Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, the state’s capital, is insolvent after using swaps to borrow money. It has debt of seven times its general fund budget.