If
the rise was above 2% the Council would have to call a referendum in which the
people would decide. The rise will give the Council an extra £1.1
million.
Central
Government has offered the Council well over half a million pounds if it freezes
Council Tax this year. This is the third time Labour bosses have refused
Government money to help keep Council Tax frozen.
Last
year Labour raised Council Tax by 3.5%, the highest in the
country.
Despite this the
Labour council has managed to spend: over £4,319 on new furniture for the
Mayor’s Parlour; £168,000 hiring a temporary officer; £95,000 on equipment it
already had; £37,600 on bird monitoring; £36k on a temporary civic building;
£78,000 on a legal case it had no chance of winning and was prepared to spend
£20,000 on hiring a consultant to find out what everybody already knew about
opposition to parking charges in Saltburn!
The Government
has offered councils the equivalent of a 1% Council Tax increase if they freeze
Council Tax. Liberal Democrats say Redcar & Cleveland Council should accept
this offer which amounts to £585,000. Lib Dems think the extra money the Council
says it needs could be found through savings and, at last, making a real effort
to eliminate inessential and wasteful expenditure.
Councillor Glyn Nightingale, Lib Dem
Group Leader, said:
"I am appalled at Labour cynically
keeping the Council Tax rise just below 2% to avoid a public
referendum.
“The 1.97% rise
will raise an extra £1.1 million. By freezing Council Tax the Government will
give the Council £585,000. The gap of £579,000 exactly matches all the wasteful
schemes Labour didn’t need to pour money into plus the £200k unspent from this year.
There is plenty of wasted money spent on things they can scrap if they have the
will to do it. It’s not difficult.
“But instead they
seem to want to organise yet another raid on people’s
wallets.
“If they want 2%
more they should have the guts to say so and let the people
decide.”
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