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19
Apr
Mayor criticised after using public money to send more than 1,000 Christmas cards
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has defended a decision to use public money to post more than 1,000 cards at Christmas.
David Skaith spent £998 to post the cards to councillors on North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council, as well as individual parish councils and community organisations.
The Labour mayor said the move was to thank organisations and individuals for their work and support on behalf of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which he chairs.
But opposition councillors say the move was another example of “unnecessary expenditure”.
According to a Freedom of Information request obtained by the Stray Ferret, Mr Skaith used the money to send out 1,929 cards last Christmas.
The mayor used York Print Company to send the cards and spent £438 in printing and £560 to post them.
In total, 1,192 cards were sent by the mayor — meaning each card cost on average 83.7p.
Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservative group on City of York Council.
Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservative group on City of York Council, said the spend was another “unnecessary expenditure “ by Mayor Skaith.
He pointed to similarities with the mayor’s decision to spend £31,360 on a new combined authority logo, which Cllr Steward said had little economic benefit.
Cllr Steward said:
This looks like yet another unnecessary expenditure from the mayor, not long after spending thousands on his new logo.
Just like the logo it is hard to see how there will be any economic benefit or other good to the decision. Physical Christmas cards are becoming all the rarer anyway but are nice to receive because they are from family and friends that they have bought, rather than the pubic purse funding and organising them.
The Stray Ferret asked Mr Skaith whether he felt the move was a good use of public money.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said:
As the elected leader of the combined authority, and a champion for our region, the Mayor sent cards to thank community organisations and partners for their work and support on behalf of all those at the authority.
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