The council spent over £1,000 on flowers for the mayor's annual fundraising ball that was intended to raise money for charities. A fundraiser questioned why the money was spent on decorations rather than given directly to the charities. While the mayor said she did not know the cost of the flowers, the taxpayers' alliance agreed that spending so much on flowers was hard to justify when the council needs to save money, as the funds could have better supported the charities.