AVERAGE COUNCIL TAX BILL HITS £1000 MARK FOR THE FIRST TIME (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

AVERAGE COUNCIL TAX BILL HITS £1000 MARK FOR THE FIRST TIME

December 17, 2007 3:37 PM

Council taxpayers in Gloucestershire face the prospect of an average Band D council tax bill for county council services of over £1000 according to the Conservative budget plans announced this week.

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Liberal Democrat leader in Gloucestershire said: "This appears to be a smoke and mirrors style budget proposal. The budget options are unrealistic or misleading. The Conservative administration is proposing a budget which breaks Government rules on setting council tax. They want an inflation busting 6.9% council tax rise - this is reckless. The council will waste taxpayers' money doing surveys and consultation on a budget which they know cannot be agreed. In Option 2 the proposal to start a fund for flooding will only cover the shortfall in the cost of flood repairs that has been left by Gordon Brown's failure to properly support the county in the flooding aftermath. There will be no new money to plan for the future flood prevention and drainage. Pensioners and local people on fixed incomes will be the hardest hit by these council tax rises. The spiralling cost of council tax to over £1000 for the average house is the result of successive Government failures to tackle the issue of the unfair council tax. Tory councillors continue to support this unfair tax on local people."

Liberal Democrat councillors are scrutinising the detail of the budget proposals that are being presented at the council cabinet meeting this week. Liberal Democrat councillors will lead the scrutiny of the council's budget. The Budget and Performance Scrutiny Committee will be chaired by Liberal Democrat councillor Dennis Andrewartha (Cam & Dursley)