THE buttered slice of bread accidentally dropped, inevitably lands on the floor butter-side down.

The postman and the newspaper delivery boy inevitably leave the gate open, and at this time of year, Bury MBC inevitably whinge about unfair financing from the government, while preparing us for the inevitable increase in council tax.

This was hard enough to tolerate when we had a Conservative government but if their own government won't endorse their efforts, they really must be a dreadful council.

No doubt at February's Radcliffe area board, we will be subjected to the inevitable council road show on council taxation, which will start with a boast about the MBC being by far the largest employer throughout the borough, and how they are one of the lowest spending in the Greater Manchester area.

Over-staffing is probably one of the reasons for the deficiencies and under-funding is probably why they are one of the lowest spenders, but the inevitable conclusion is that they must be inefficient and now they are finally considering reducing staff, which has been an obvious solution for years, in an effort to keep council tax rises down.

As a person who has suffered many times by being ferried about from department to department by what appears to be overlapping responsibilities, with no-one prepared to accept responsibility, I feel justified in making adverse comments.

Why does the MBC need a chief executive, a deputy chief executive and an assistant chief executive - not to mention the ancillary staff involved?

Why do we continue with the mayoral office and the costs involved?

There is an urgent need to substantially reduce staff and start at the top with the highly paid executives, not just with the more modestly paid workers. Special attention should be paid to the staff who have contributed to the dreadful rate of absenteeism within the MBC, and thus two problems would be solved.

Finally, an instant freeze on increases in councillors' expenses would set an example to council staff.

BERNARD SLINGSBY