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Beware the sleight of hand behind the tax freeze
WHEN elections loom, we don’t expect to see sitting councillors proposing significant increases in council tax.
Local elections mean that at least one year in every four, the council will keep any increase to an absolute minimum. Those brave enough to do otherwise usually pay the price in votes.
What is different about the current Lib Dem/Conservative coalition is that it has kept a lid on tax throughout its term .
“No rise in council tax” is a great banner to carry into next May’s elections. But is there a sleight of hand behind it? After all the books have to be balanced somehow. And if you don’t even meet the increase in the rate of inflation by raising the tax, you are effectively cutting your own resources. So how can it be done?
Camden has already found it can make quick cash by rashly selling chunks of its property portfolio.
And there is another way to plug the gap: charge more for what people need. So, could it be that the extra pence in your pocket thanks to a freeze on council tax you are going to have to spend on higher charges?
A new list of fees and charges has been suggested by the council (see page 6). These are for services which most of us use at some stage during the year – and they’re going to cost much more.
Expect increases in the cost of school meals, library loans and sports facilities for children. Pest control charges will also go up. Instead of all of us putting a bit extra into the pot, according to our ability to pay, we are drifting towards a “pay up only when you need us” system.
As the heaviest users of niche council services are usually the least able to pay, that council tax freeze is going to cost them dear.
• In stark and simple terms we are being told that there may be no accident and emergency department at the Whittington Hospital because they can’t afford to keep it running.
Never mind the bureaucratic buzzwords and boloney, the root cause of merger plans between the Whittington and the Royal Free is cost.
To think health minister Lord Darzi said exactly the opposite when he unveiled his reforms two years ago. He insisted that there would not be cuts at hospitals as a new network of health centres was opened.
Camden patients have shown that campaigning together can make a difference.
They successfully insisted on being listened to over a new surgery in Euston. The same rigorous people power should be deployed against any attempt to remove A&E from the Whittington.
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