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What you will pay
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Band
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
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Bill
£906.37
£1035.86
£1165.34
£1285.25
£1553.78
£1812.75
£2201.19
£2589.64
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Piggy-bank raid to keep tax rise down
LABOUR set out its stall for May’s elections
last night by raiding the Town Hall piggy bank to pay for a
low council tax rise while investing £14 million in Kentish
Town Swimming Pool.
Finance chief Cllr Anna Stewart’s budget will see £2.5
million taken from council reserves, stretching Camden’s
financial safety net to the limit and prompting a warning against
further withdrawals from finance director Mike O’Donnell.
The move sees council tax rise by just under two per cent –
in line with inflation – while Mayor Ken Livingstone’s
13 per cent increase in his section of the bill brings the total
rise to just under three per cent.
It means the average band D household will pay £1,285.25
a year from April.
Both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats say council tax freeze
would be possible if backroom staff were fired, saving the average
band D household just under £30 a year.
But Cllr Stewart said: “Over the years we have ensured
low, steady increases in Council Tax.
“This year Camden residents will once again benefit from
one of the lowest rises in London whilst putting extra money
into projects for young people and making our borough safer.”
The budget includes cash for several key council policies which
are losing central government funding, including its Asbo campaign
in Camden Town and Bloomsbury and the Sure Start program for
pre-school children.
But Labour was forced to find savings of £6 million after
a massive reduction in the number of parking tickets issued
this year and a failure to collect fines issued in 2004.
The lion’s share of savings come from the culture budget,
slashed by £7 million, although officers say most of that
is accounted for by the massive reorganisation of the Town Hall
last year.
But Cllr Stewart insisted the council coffers were not reliant
on revenue from motorists, adding: “It’s a question
of enforcement, not revenue raising, and the two issues should
not be confused.”
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Keith Moffit said: “We have
been saying that the council has held reserves that are too
large for years and every time we have been ridiculed by Labour
members in the chamber.
“Now they are doing it at last, but there is further scope
for savings and a zero per cent rise out to be easily achievable.”
Tory finance spokesman Andrew Marshall added: “We have
identified several millions of spending that could be taken
out without local residents noticing any impact on services
they care about. Labour’s political priorities mean they
just can’t make these savings.
“The slight reduction in Labour’s tax increase from
the original 3 per cent to 2 per cent is
only because they have decided to spend more of the reserves
in an election year, which just means the tax would increase
again next year under Labour.” |
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