Greens plan council tax rise of 2% for Brighton and Hove (From The Argus)
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Greens plan council tax rise of 2% for Brighton and Hove
5:01pm Tuesday 27th November 2012 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter
A council tax rise of 2% will form the cornerstone of a town hall budget with more than £20 million cuts.
Brighton and Hove City Council has confirmed it will delete about 160 posts in the 2013/14 financial year as it looks to combat Government cuts.
The minority Green administration claimed the rise, the maximum allowed without holding a city-wide referendum, would help it off-set some of the reductions from Whitehall.
Bosses this afternoon also pledged to maintain the number of children’s centres, keep branch libraries open and make no changes to eligibility for social care.
However, children’s and adult services will be forced to bear the brunt as more than £20 million of savings have to be found.
The council tax increase would amount to about 43p per week for the average Band D household in the city.
Council leader Jason Kitcat said: “These budget proposals represent our commitment to protecting the city’s essential services for residents.
“We are facing unexpected additional budget cuts which have massively increased the deficit during this two year budget period. Our focus now with these proposals is to ensure all services are run as efficiently as possible.
“We are proposing a modest, below inflation 2% rise in council tax increase. With the challenging economic climate we do recognise any tax increases are difficult.
“Despite this we are working hard to keep Brighton and Hove's economy growing, we will be funding major investment in the digital network infrastructure to keep the city at the forefront of creative, innovative business.
“These proposals protect essential services while carving out a path which is ambitious for the city's future.”
At least a further £1.9 million must be found before the budget is finalised by all councillors in February.
This coudl see Conservative and Labour councillors join to vote down the Green plans.
Full details will not be available until the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on December 5.
For a full breakdown of how the budget will affect you see tomorrow’s Argus.
See the latest news headlines from The Argus:
- Updated: One killed in Hove shooting
- Council in racism row
- Tight collar causes cat horrific injuries
- Schools struggle to recruit new heads
- Police called to Lewes school after pupils' high jinks
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Comments(40)
george smith
says...
5:32pm Tue 27 Nov 12
charlie smirke
says...
5:56pm Tue 27 Nov 12
NickBrt wrote:Totally agree with you!
Students pay nothing still, travellers still pay nothing, those two groups cause mayhem in Brighton and the rest of us cough up more. Thanks, Jason.
Surely not!
says...
5:57pm Tue 27 Nov 12
NickBrt wrote:Unfortunately your opinions are negated by the fact that you right such rubbish.
Students pay nothing still, travellers still pay nothing, those two groups cause mayhem in Brighton and the rest of us cough up more. Thanks, Jason.
Whatever you may think about the Greens, and I'm no fan of theirs, the fact that that travellers and students pay no council tax is completely out of their remit. You have to blame the Tories and Labour for that. I don't suppose this will stop you posting nonsense, its too much of a habit with you. :)
Surely not!
says...
5:58pm Tue 27 Nov 12
fredflintstone1
says...
6:02pm Tue 27 Nov 12
george smith wrote:Typically devious approach from the Greens - push for the maximum rise possible without asking people what they think.
We pay a small fortune to a shepherd to hire his sheep. Dreadful when worthwhile services are going to be cut
As George says, why are we continuing to spend money on hiring sheep in this city - up to £1800 per week throughout the year, plus £100 each time they're moved? The Greens want to spend £122k turning Wild Park into a sheep farm.
Clearly,the Greens would rather carry on with such vanity projects rather than prioritising those in genuine need in these difficult times.
Surely not!
says...
6:12pm Tue 27 Nov 12
/programmes/b01ntjpv
Some people might be interested.
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
6:38pm Tue 27 Nov 12
At the same time claiming to be poor they insist on continuing with unnecessary vanity projects.
I will not pay my council tax next year until the Greens take a more sensible and reasonable approach to budgeting and revenue generation and suggest you all do the same.
gusset snatcher
says...
6:40pm Tue 27 Nov 12
http://www.sussex.ac
.uk/newsandevents/?i
d=5402, why should we have to pay for their services... and most of them don't even come from Brighton
NickBtn
says...
6:44pm Tue 27 Nov 12
There are limits that the greens need to work within (despite trying they can't tax students or single people more). Effort should not be spent on trying to change these - it won't work. Instead focus on what really is vital, get rid of the many vanity projects and inject some more business thinking and efficiency into the council. Will this happen, I'm not holding my breath....
Hove Actually
says...
6:55pm Tue 27 Nov 12
So lets hope our true politicians both Labour and Conservative step up to the mark again.
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
7:22pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Therefore, if Kitkat wont impose council tax on them, I suggest he starts a scheme where they are fined under byelaws for littering/fly tipping and are made to pay the costs of EHO managing a noise/nuisance case against them.
Come on Kitkat, you need to start offloading costs on the non-contibutors and those taking from the local community and not giving back.
I would also suggest you charge travellers £50 a night if they park up illegally.
You must be able to introduce a byelaw and cost for 'camping'.
Kitkat you are slowly alienating everyone in the city with this refusal to manage real issues and your insistence on making decent, working people pay for those who actually make our lives a misery.
Martha Gunn
says...
7:27pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Lostandaway
says...
7:34pm Tue 27 Nov 12
There may be 32,000 students in Brighton, but how many would actually be in a position to have the tax levied upon them if they were to pay the full rate. ie they may be living at home or in multiple occupancy.
The problem still lies with the owner of the property. If the property is empty a tax charge will be raised,paid by the owner, even if the house falls in to decay. Rent the house to students and there is no tax charge and the students have lower expectations. So if the house is allowed to rot?
The Traveller problem that keeps being aired could be discussed with the East Sussex Traveller Liason team for an informed debate.
fredflintstone1
says...
7:36pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Maxwell's Ghost wrote:Slowly alienating?? I agree with you,
I wouldn't mind the students paying nothing if they had zero impact on the community but in my street Cityclean and its inspectors are continually having to visit student homes about the filth and the fly tipping and remove it at the cost to the city and the environmental health are left to manage the noisy ones, sometimes having to go to court which we all pay for.
Therefore, if Kitkat wont impose council tax on them, I suggest he starts a scheme where they are fined under byelaws for littering/fly tipping and are made to pay the costs of EHO managing a noise/nuisance case against them.
Come on Kitkat, you need to start offloading costs on the non-contibutors and those taking from the local community and not giving back.
I would also suggest you charge travellers £50 a night if they park up illegally.
You must be able to introduce a byelaw and cost for 'camping'.
Kitkat you are slowly alienating everyone in the city with this refusal to manage real issues and your insistence on making decent, working people pay for those who actually make our lives a misery.
except I don't think 'slowly' is correct...
In years to come, students of political science will study how the Greens managed to alienate the goodwill of voters in such a short space of time.
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
7:46pm Tue 27 Nov 12
I for one will not be paying my council tax next year and will happily take letters, photos and emails to court demonstrating where councillors and officers have refused to carry out their statutory duties which they are supposed to do legally.
Lostandaway
says...
7:55pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Management seems to be an issue which perhaps has been clouded with Party policies.
However it's always easy to manage from the rear. When the elections come around, how many people will put themselves forward for the job?
How many of the students in Brighton vote for a particular party? Perhaps there is an issue here which has an effect upon the major part of those who live in the town.
mustaphaLeeko
says...
8:08pm Tue 27 Nov 12
That really is such blatant spin by Jason Kitkrud, what they actually wanted was an above inflation rise but couldn't get it when Labour and the Conservatives joined together to oppose their propsed budget earlier this year, as I'm SURE everyone remembers!
rfairweather@tiscali.co.uk
says...
10:48pm Tue 27 Nov 12
HJarrs
says...
11:27pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Last year we saw cuts due to Labourservatives voting down a below inflation rise and it will be interesting to see how they vote again and spin the cuts if they don't vote for a rise.
Shame for the usual suspects above that B&H ran a balanced budget last year and perhaps they would like to name a local authority that has cut fewer services and jobs? Certainly not West or East Sussex CC. And then there is all the inconvenient investment being brought into the city, which is providing employment and improving the conditions for those that live here. Oh I forgot, parking went up a bit and heaven forbid a Green minority adminstration building cyclepaths! End of the world!
HJarrs
says...
11:39pm Tue 27 Nov 12
gusset snatcher
says...
11:42pm Tue 27 Nov 12
Kate234
says...
2:30am Wed 28 Nov 12
Are the Greens for real. Have they not spoken to any of the businesses seriously affected by the increased parking charges in the city? Has he not seen all the negative national publicity in the news which the Greens have generated by these parking charge increases? What affects does he think this has on tourism and people coming down to Brighton to spend money for Christmas shopping etc.
As for these increases I hope they are voted down. We are not all rich like Caroline Lucas and other Greens.
taman
says...
4:01am Wed 28 Nov 12
fredflintstone1
says...
4:01am Wed 28 Nov 12
HJarrs wrote:What weird justification - if the Greens want to put Council tax up by less than other bills are going up, then that's fine by you?
2% seems fair enough. Less than any other bills will be going up by.
Last year we saw cuts due to Labourservatives voting down a below inflation rise and it will be interesting to see how they vote again and spin the cuts if they don't vote for a rise.
Shame for the usual suspects above that B&H ran a balanced budget last year and perhaps they would like to name a local authority that has cut fewer services and jobs? Certainly not West or East Sussex CC. And then there is all the inconvenient investment being brought into the city, which is providing employment and improving the conditions for those that live here. Oh I forgot, parking went up a bit and heaven forbid a Green minority adminstration building cyclepaths! End of the world!
Doesn't that simply suggest that people are going to be stretched by other costs, and this is just another burden they don't need?
Nor is it even justifiable. There is so much money being wasted on vanity projects by the Greens. Apart from the sheep at Wild Park, you could axe the biosphere bid nonsense, and save probably another £100K.
Stop wasting £600 per day, quoted as the cost of subsidising the Horsedean site - there's another £220K. It really wouldn't take that long to find sufficient savings to make up the shortfall.
BHCC simply hasn't looked long and hard enough at its staffing levels either, particularly at those on higher salaries (eg the raft of the assistant directors) some of whose services it could easily dispense with, since they wouldn't be missed on a day-to-day basis.
If the Council dealt effectively with the traveller situation, that area of staffing could be cut back too, resulting in siginficant savings there.
Unless services are set to improve - which isn't the case - there is simply no justification for any increase in Council tax.
Maxwell's Ghost
says...
6:39am Wed 28 Nov 12
I've only ever seen such misguided devotion and that was from poor old Mary Archer.
You can't make a mess of the economy and then carry on wasting money on projects that no one wants and then blame labour and the Tories HJarrs.
Wake up dozy.
Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit
says...
6:45am Wed 28 Nov 12
If they could be more realistic about transport and shut up about veganism, 'speciesism' and pink bikes they may have a future after all!
Phani Tikkala
says...
9:06am Wed 28 Nov 12
salty_pete
says...
9:42am Wed 28 Nov 12
Crystal Ball
says...
10:17am Wed 28 Nov 12
Maximus Of The North
says...
11:59am Wed 28 Nov 12
What is so ridiculous is the Green party are just throwing money that we haven't got on stupid eco friendly schemes which would be fine if we had a big pot of money but I've got news for Jason CatKick or whatever his name is - we're skint mate so please stop killing the working class of Brighton
Valerie Paynter
says...
12:56pm Wed 28 Nov 12
But the taxing of students is a running sore because of the weight of the burden they impose on this city.
It is not in the gift of BHCC to tax them as this is a central government thing as I understand it. Legislation is needed!
Fairfax Sakes
says...
2:44pm Wed 28 Nov 12
Maxwell's Ghost wrote:Oh god, you and ur incessant anti-student trading. Change the record for fcuk sake. If your so cheesed off go and join your BNP mates in Bradford, otherwise pay your council tax and shut up.
I wouldn't mind the students paying nothing if they had zero impact on the community but in my street Cityclean and its inspectors are continually having to visit student homes about the filth and the fly tipping and remove it at the cost to the city and the environmental health are left to manage the noisy ones, sometimes having to go to court which we all pay for.
Therefore, if Kitkat wont impose council tax on them, I suggest he starts a scheme where they are fined under byelaws for littering/fly tipping and are made to pay the costs of EHO managing a noise/nuisance case against them.
Come on Kitkat, you need to start offloading costs on the non-contibutors and those taking from the local community and not giving back.
I would also suggest you charge travellers £50 a night if they park up illegally.
You must be able to introduce a byelaw and cost for 'camping'.
Kitkat you are slowly alienating everyone in the city with this refusal to manage real issues and your insistence on making decent, working people pay for those who actually make our lives a misery.
brightongunner
says...
3:46pm Wed 28 Nov 12
surely it is time that the people can have a vote of no confidence and get rid of the green party now?
The conservatives in Hove make a lot more sense to me. Best of a bad situation, but at least this ludicrous policy of wasting money on green policies and charging us for the pleasure has to stop.
brightongunner
says...
3:48pm Wed 28 Nov 12
Fairfax Sakes wrote:Landlords of brighton have just been hit with the licensing scheme, costing £566 at least... so that ends your students not paying council tax gripe.
Maxwell's Ghost wrote:Oh god, you and ur incessant anti-student trading. Change the record for fcuk sake. If your so cheesed off go and join your BNP mates in Bradford, otherwise pay your council tax and shut up.
I wouldn't mind the students paying nothing if they had zero impact on the community but in my street Cityclean and its inspectors are continually having to visit student homes about the filth and the fly tipping and remove it at the cost to the city and the environmental health are left to manage the noisy ones, sometimes having to go to court which we all pay for.
Therefore, if Kitkat wont impose council tax on them, I suggest he starts a scheme where they are fined under byelaws for littering/fly tipping and are made to pay the costs of EHO managing a noise/nuisance case against them.
Come on Kitkat, you need to start offloading costs on the non-contibutors and those taking from the local community and not giving back.
I would also suggest you charge travellers £50 a night if they park up illegally.
You must be able to introduce a byelaw and cost for 'camping'.
Kitkat you are slowly alienating everyone in the city with this refusal to manage real issues and your insistence on making decent, working people pay for those who actually make our lives a misery.
Dealing with idiots
says...
4:01pm Thu 29 Nov 12
OhComeOnPlease
says...
2:06pm Fri 30 Nov 12
NickBrt wrote:Students not paying tax is government legislation and not down to local councils. You should direct your objections at the city's two government-loving, cuts-loving, wealth-pandering MPs, Mike Weatherley and Simon Kirkby.
Students pay nothing still, travellers still pay nothing, those two groups cause mayhem in Brighton and the rest of us cough up more. Thanks, Jason.
Travellers are also not down to local councils though I understand that if they take up a permanent or semi-permanent site, they do pay council tax.
OhComeOnPlease
says...
2:10pm Fri 30 Nov 12
Maxwell's Ghost wrote:Not true. Factually wrong.
The Greens have mis managed the golden revenue stream of parking so its now got a £700,000 shortfall and I predicted earlier this week that the residents would be punished by the Greens by a council tax rise due to this complete incompetence.
At the same time claiming to be poor they insist on continuing with unnecessary vanity projects.
I will not pay my council tax next year until the Greens take a more sensible and reasonable approach to budgeting and revenue generation and suggest you all do the same.
The shortfall was £300k, not £700k, and it was a shortfall against TARGETS because of the summer's dreadful weather: the actual revenue went up despite the fact that when it's pouring with rain, as it did virtually all summer, people don't actually want to sit on the beach and stroll along the prom eating ice cream and fish and chips.
In revenue terms, the new pricing for parking is working.
And most of it is spent on free bus passes for older people.
OhComeOnPlease
says...
2:12pm Fri 30 Nov 12
Maxwell's Ghost wrote:Jason Kitcat CANNOT impose council tax on students by law. Suggest you write to Tory MPs Mike Weatherley & Simon Kirkby to get a change in the law, if this is how you feel.
I wouldn't mind the students paying nothing if they had zero impact on the community but in my street Cityclean and its inspectors are continually having to visit student homes about the filth and the fly tipping and remove it at the cost to the city and the environmental health are left to manage the noisy ones, sometimes having to go to court which we all pay for.
Therefore, if Kitkat wont impose council tax on them, I suggest he starts a scheme where they are fined under byelaws for littering/fly tipping and are made to pay the costs of EHO managing a noise/nuisance case against them.
Come on Kitkat, you need to start offloading costs on the non-contibutors and those taking from the local community and not giving back.
I would also suggest you charge travellers £50 a night if they park up illegally.
You must be able to introduce a byelaw and cost for 'camping'.
Kitkat you are slowly alienating everyone in the city with this refusal to manage real issues and your insistence on making decent, working people pay for those who actually make our lives a misery.
OhComeOnPlease
says...
2:16pm Fri 30 Nov 12
NickBtn wrote:Why no referendum?
They're applying for the maximum that can be got without holding a referendum. Why no referendum? Because even the greens realise that they'd lose (despite all the spin around limiting increases quoted from Mr Kitcat - if he was so concerned he'd freeze the tax or reduce it as some other councils have done)
There are limits that the greens need to work within (despite trying they can't tax students or single people more). Effort should not be spent on trying to change these - it won't work. Instead focus on what really is vital, get rid of the many vanity projects and inject some more business thinking and efficiency into the council. Will this happen, I'm not holding my breath....
Partly because it would need all three parties' agreement, and it's unlikely council-cutting Tories would vote in favour of a tax-rise referendum while on last year's experience Labour would probably vote against too, so it would be a waste of taxpayers' money to try ...
... and partly because a referendum itself would cost a fortune. If Greens proposed, say, a 3.5% tax rise, most of the difference between 2% and 3.5% would be spent on the referendum!
NickBrt says...
5:27pm Tue 27 Nov 12