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Shops and businesses around the Rhondda are rubbing their hands with glee as their most lucrative time of the year approaches.

As the fiscal year end draws near, local authorities, utilities companies and schools once again are faced with the age old problem of what to spend their remaining budget on.

“It’s the same old story every year,” local authority worker Annette Bryant told us, “we have to spend all the money left in our budget, or we don’t get as much cash next year.”

Ms Bryant went on to tell My Rhondda News, that this time last year, she bought one video conferencing system for her local office at the cost of £12,000, “It’s absolutely ridiculous really, when you think that no other offices in the local authority bought one, so we can’t talk to anyone on it.” She continued, “It does make the office look all hi-tech and important though.”

Treorchy cake shop and bakery owner, Yvonne Dunne, told us, “I always bake extra cakes ready for the last day of the financial year, we have teachers, local authority people and councillor types all in here buying ridiculous amounts of éclairs and coffee choux cream buns, trouble is they all pay by cheques that need more than one signature on them which slows things down, so the queue is usually quite long.”

My Rhondda News asked a top counsellor person, who didn’t want to be named, why this apparent waste of money happens every year. “It’s not a waste of money,” he said, “if we don’t get rid of it all, our budget will be less next year, and if that happens we may run out of money before April next year, and we won’t have any left to buy things in March that we may want, like spare overhead projectors, iPads and heated beaded seat covers for our refuse collecting lorries.”

It’s not just local authorities who are up to this age old game though, it has emerged that schools are also on a shopping spree, with a local infants school splashing out on Kellogg’s cereals, including Frosties and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, instead of the usual unbranded shite for their breakfast club. Head Teacher Carol Spoon told us, “It’s mental, breakfast club is rammed in March, because all the kids know we have the best cereals in.”

Have you seen any evidence of this annual blatant waste of money?  We’d love to hear from you, comment below and share what you’ve seen.

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