THE LEADER of Macclesfield Borough Council has hit back at claims that the organisation has £32.5 million stashed away in bank and building society accounts.
Coun Wesley Fitzgerald defended his Tory colleagues following a scathing attack from Labour councillors.
Leader of the Macclesfield Labour Group, Coun Steve Carter, said that the authority was "sitting on millions" that should be spent on projects in the borough, instead of raising council tax by 4.4 per cent.
But Coun Fitzgerald said: "Once again, Coun Carter's deliberately misleading statements are compelling me to set the record straight and, at the risk of boring your readers, I must nail his abject lies concerning the council's money management.
"As with any large organisation which has an income and expenditure, this council has variously between approximately £20m to £30m which is destined for expenditure, mainly in the current year, but sometimes over a two-year period.
"The money cannot be used to reduce council tax. Indeed, approximately £12m is collected council tax which is in transit to the county council.
"The remaining monies are, for instance, £8m for a capital programme where the money has not yet been spent, but will be soon, and £2.5m relates to planning obligations earmarked for a variety of special schemes.
"Today the amount invested stands at £25m and tomorrow it will have changed again."
Coun Fitzgerald claimed that his Labour opponent's "ramblings" were for the purpose of election campaigning in a bid to win the Macclesfield seat from MP Sir Nicholas Winterton.
"If the quality of his campaign continues to run on the basis of half truths and misleading rhetoric, then Sir Nicholas is in for a sure-fire win in retaining the seat at the forthcoming general election," he said.
"It is a great pity that he tries to use the borough council's excellent treasury management record as a tool for self-promotion in the public arena."
Coun Steve Carter was unavailable for comment yesterday (Tuesday).
