WILL the ratepayers of North Somerset really be told what went wrong with the building projects undertaken on their behalf (Mercury, August 18)? How can we have an overspend of £6.5 million? We have been assured by Councillor Mike Roe that the authority w

WILL the ratepayers of North Somerset really be told what went wrong with the building projects undertaken on their behalf (Mercury, August 18)? How can we have an overspend of £6.5 million?We have been assured by Councillor Mike Roe that the authority will get to the bottom of what went wrong. Cllr Roe wonders if the council officers are capable of handling large projects. That being the question, why are they employed at all?If we have companies submitting a tender to the council to provide something at an agreed cost, with contracts signed, why is the council then prepared to accept that it was to pay extra because the company which won the tender got its figures wrong?I read that we have executive councillors who appear to have the right to approve up to £2million in expenditure without seeking the consent of other councillors. If this is true, we really are up the creak without a paddle.All I know as a rate payer is that my council tax goes up and up, the council workforce gets bigger and bigger and we are getting less for our money. Weston is going from bad to worse and the only people who seem to have any idea are people like Rod Brenner, from the Grand Pier, who really spelt out what's wrong with Weston in last week's Mercury.But didn't I also see a big advert in the Mercury looking for a housing development officer at a salary of up to £26,000pa? As far as I'm aware, when the council gave away its housing stock it kept all the existing staff on, so why do we need someone like this? What about the existing staff? In fact, the extra jobs being advertised will cost the ratepayers about £130,000 a year.The trouble is, the more people the council employs means the more people we will be paying pensions to in the years to come. Nobody ever loses a job on the council, you never have to worry about inflation and nobody seems responsible if you can't actually do your job very well.LAURENCE ORME - Shrubbery Avenue, Weston