Has Rudolph priced himself out of Welshpool this Christmas?
The figure was shared during last night’s Town Council Events and Tourism meeting when Cllr Sally Fitzgerald declared: “I honestly feel that’s far too much money for us to be spending. Nearly £2,000 for a few hours is ridiculous money for a reindeer.”
The debate came as councillors agreed to set up a sub-committee to run this year’s event which has become a popular launch to the town’s Christmas celebrations.
Cllr Estelle Bleivas added: “We have done it for three years, so it needs something different.”
But Cllr Billy Spencer, himself a father of a young son, warned against stopping activities that are geared up for children and families.
“I think it is a lovely gesture, especially when you have got children,” he said. “I think the children’s faces last year made it worthwhile. We go on about money, but we have got the money for this, it’s in the budget. We didn’t have the donkeys for the carnival but the amount of people that came up to me to say they wish the donkeys were here was huge.
“So, are we going to take the reindeer from children this year? What are we going to have?”
However, Cllr Phil Pritchard reiterated his claim, which has recently been denied by the Mayor, Cllr Phil Owen, that the council was close to bankruptcy this year.
“We haven’t got a lot of money, this council was that close to bankruptcy a few months ago,” he said.
“If that’s the case, everybody was going to cut out the spending but I haven’t seen that happen. Every committee has taken no notice of the financial position of this council, full stop. I would love to do it, but we haven’t got the money.”
Councillors voted by Chair, Cllr Chris Davies’s casting vote to take the discussion into a confidential session which excluded the press and public, so we are not aware of the final outcome.
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