IF Herefordshire Council thinks spending £500,000 plus “makes commercial and strategic sense” because the previous administration did so, I suggest they ask a 16-year-old economics student about the fallacy of sunk costs (The cost of saving cash, April 4).

Any half-awake person knows you do not throw good money after bad. To award the contract to PWC because they did the previous “work” is simply scandalous. I would be surprised if the project described could not be completed by a local IT company for £25,000.

Similarly, if they think a voice recognition service enhances “customer” experience they need to meet some real people.

ALSO READ:

I haven’t needed the services of the births, marriages and deaths registrar for some years.

However, when I have used this service in the past I always found the very few staff involved to be efficient, helpful and compassionate – unlikely to be replicated by a call menu.

No doubt calling on an international Big Four accountancy firm to crack these weighty issues will be welcomed by the ratepayers.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

If this is the level of intellect and commercial acumen that Herefordshire Council brings to bear it is amazing the deficit is only £13.5m.

It may be that the response is “we are getting a central government grant for this, so it’s not costing the ratepayers”.

But does that mean that as taxpayers Herefordians will be partly paying for this type of project undertaken by every council in the country?

ALLAN DAVIES

Tupsley