The Amsterdam district councils are less and less successful in spending their money. The total reserves in five years increased by more than a hundred million euro, to a good 430 million euro in 2002. Especially money earmarked for education and the reparation of school buildings remains unspent on the shelf. This was the conclusion of of research into city district council finances which was published by the committee of mayor and ldermen today. Especially district councils Osdorp, North and Westerpark have left more money unspent than last year. Of the 35 million euro increase of reserves between 2001 and 2002, they account for 30 million euro.
Particularly astonishing is that the district councils do not succeed in actually spending the money that they get for education. The Amsterdam schools complain a lot lately about the terrible condition of their buildings. The city council adopted a proposal to commit an additional hundred million euro to spruce up the schools. It was seen as a great victory fo the city, in times of Central Government budget cuts for education. >From the figures of council researchers however, it is clear that there was another 78 million euro to be spent for education in 2002 in the district council budget, twenty percent more than in the previous year. In public primary education, 1246 euro per child was not spent, as against 1000 euro in the previous year. But it is the budget with unspent money for school buildings that grew the fastest, research shows. But 2001 and 2002 it grew by 38 percent, from 15 million to 21 million euro. The district councils got that money among other things to improve safety procedures against fire hazards. There is also a large growth in the resereve funds for combating educational disadvantage. In 2001, 4.5 million euro remained unspent; in 2002, the figure was 4.5 million euro. "The most important reason for the increase is the fact that available means are not spent", the researchers write. The district councils get their funds mainly from the district council fund of the City Council, annually decided by the City Council. Last year, the mayor and aldermen requested a research inquiry into the state of affairs with district councils, motivated by discovery of the increasing reserves in 2001. (Translated from Het Parool, 17 December)
