I'm delighted to hear from Councillor Tony Newman (Croydon Guardian, January 12) that Croydon Council runs a balanced budget, and by implication cannot be in debt.

Also, that his stated intention is "that Croydon should continue improving services while maintaining council tax at or below the average for the 20 outer London boroughs".

Can he therefore assure council taxpayers that we will not be expected to foot the millions of pounds that the council employees' pension fund is in debt'?

Brian Clacey
Received by email