Brighton and Hove council tax rise of 2% approved (From The Argus)
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Brighton and Hove council tax rise of 2% approved
8:19pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in News
Tens of thousands of households will have a council tax rise of about 2% in the next year.
The increase was approved after a four hour debate by all 54 councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council.
Despite the Conservative attempts to freeze the rates, the Labour group joined with a majority of Green to push through the 1.96% rise.
They claimed the increase, which is the maximum amount possible and amounts to about 43p a week for a Band D household, is needed to help combat Government cuts.
The council tax rise was the cornerstone of the budget of more than £750 million which the majority of councillors supported.
Green councillor Ben Duncan joined the Tories in opposing the overall budget.
However a move to save the mobile library was rejected after Labour plans were voted down by the Greens and Tory groups.
It comes after three months of debating the proposals, which were first published in November.
Council leader Jason Kitcat said the passing the budget showed that "Greens deliver".
Speaking after the meeting, he told The Argus: "I think people voted in the best interests on the city.
"We tried to balance the needs of residents in the face of tough economic times.
"I know that councillors in the chamber reflected on their conscience before taking their decisions.
"This is local democracy and sometimes it gets messy."
The minority Green administration claimed the below-inflation council tax rise is necessary to make £17 million of savings while protecting vital services and the most vulnerable in the city.
But last month Conservative councillors revealed they would find an extra £780,000 from the £750 million budget to ensure a tax freeze - which would mean the city gets a one-off government grant of £1.2 million.
Labour backed the majority of the Green group when it came to the main vote.
The third party also received backing for extra money for wefare support and to stop the increase in nursery fees for under 3s.
See all Argus stories relating to the Brighton and Hove City Council 2013/14 budget here: www.theargus.co.uk/news/indepth/brightonhovecounciltax
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Comments(24)
Idontbelieveit1948
says...
8:25pm Thu 28 Feb 13
It’s time for the budget review,
We know what the Greens want to do,
Pile on the pains,
With more cycle lanes,
While raising our council tax too.
Apparently the Reds do as well.
If you mix Green and Red you get Brown - the new colour of the Brighton Lefties
NickBtn
says...
9:13pm Thu 28 Feb 13
LongDistanceRunner2
says...
9:23pm Thu 28 Feb 13
Hove Actually
says...
9:30pm Thu 28 Feb 13
Everyone is cutting back and most households are suffering with everything that they cannot avoid going up.
Any increase will have to come from the pockets of the taxpayers who will not forgive when given the chance to voice an opinion.
The greens need to make the most of this time in charge as it will never come again.....
Nick Brighton
says...
9:44pm Thu 28 Feb 13
LongDistanceRunner2 wrote:Evidence please.
Christina Summers chose to lobby for a Christian charity (that she set up) to receive £10,000 from this year's budget. Apparently it received that amount last year. What on earth was the Council doing funding a charity whose number one aim is the spread the gospel?
LongDistanceRunner2
says...
10:02pm Thu 28 Feb 13
ilion.net/users/bhmc
/antifrez.htm
saveHOVE
says...
10:17pm Thu 28 Feb 13
Lawn bowls are extremely heavy - even though the 'woods' are now plastic and without the lockers to store them in, it will not be practical for many to continue to enjoy the exercise, companionship and sporting activity they need and love.
They should have been able to keep the Pavilion. Confiscating it and shoving aside the elderly in order to use their bowls club pavilion for peddling ice cream is elder abuse in my view.
The silence of the Older People's Council tells you it was they and not the lawn bowlers who should have suffered the cuts.
george smith
says...
10:39pm Thu 28 Feb 13
saveHOVE wrote:Lets be honest, the greens were not going to let them use cars and you cannot really carry bowling woods on a bike can you. It much better they stay trapped in their home and everyone just forgets about them
No mercy for the Lawn Bowling club on Hove's western lawns and no interest in the disenfranchised older people who need the Pavilion in order to use the meagre two greens left for them to use. Lawn bowls are extremely heavy - even though the 'woods' are now plastic and without the lockers to store them in, it will not be practical for many to continue to enjoy the exercise, companionship and sporting activity they need and love. They should have been able to keep the Pavilion. Confiscating it and shoving aside the elderly in order to use their bowls club pavilion for peddling ice cream is elder abuse in my view. The silence of the Older People's Council tells you it was they and not the lawn bowlers who should have suffered the cuts.
jyan
says...
11:10pm Thu 28 Feb 13
Kate234
says...
7:26am Fri 1 Mar 13
fred clause
says...
8:35am Fri 1 Mar 13
HJarrs
says...
9:06am Fri 1 Mar 13
fred clause wrote:These people you call working class, I suppose they will be queuing up to vote Tory then? The tories being well known for supporting those on low incomes; after all, no party has lowered living standards for more people in in such a short space of time. They certainly are the party for creating poverty! And Ukip? Have a look at the policies grammar schools and climate change denial!
That's the last time I vote Labour I certainly won't forget what they have done to the working classes by jumping in bed with the Greens.
I am glad that labour made a grown up decision. They certainly are not the Greens but locally they are a progressive party. The die is now caste for the next election; vote for progressive labour and green parties or regressive conservatives that plan to slash, burn and privatise (for little or no council tax saving!)
dhamallamafarmer
says...
9:35am Fri 1 Mar 13
Fercri Sakes
says...
10:54am Fri 1 Mar 13
I'm sure I remember inflation being around 1.5% and council tax rises of around 5% during most of the late 90s and 00s. Were there the cries of financial ineptitude then?
ourcoalition
says...
11:05am Fri 1 Mar 13
And it's not just Greens raising Council Tax - 41% are doing this nationally with some interesting names in the S.E. - Guildford, Surrey County Council, for example.
Do we want a decent society, or survival of the fittest (richest) - that is what it comes down to!
RickH
says...
11:32am Fri 1 Mar 13
Fercri Sakes wrote:Hear,hear! I'd also ask since when has a below inflation rate increase been a real-term increase? The current council were completely correct in rejecting Pickles cash bribes that come with strings. (NB I do not vote Green.)
I think if we could collect the data on B&H council tax rises compared to inflation over the last 20 years it would show the Greens in a rather more positive light. I'm sure I remember inflation being around 1.5% and council tax rises of around 5% during most of the late 90s and 00s. Were there the cries of financial ineptitude then?
Hoarder12345444
says...
11:55am Fri 1 Mar 13
HJarrs wrote:I have always voted Labour and will continue to do so. I will never ever vote Tory, they are and always be the rich mans party.
fred clause wrote:These people you call working class, I suppose they will be queuing up to vote Tory then? The tories being well known for supporting those on low incomes; after all, no party has lowered living standards for more people in in such a short space of time. They certainly are the party for creating poverty! And Ukip? Have a look at the policies grammar schools and climate change denial!
That's the last time I vote Labour I certainly won't forget what they have done to the working classes by jumping in bed with the Greens.
I am glad that labour made a grown up decision. They certainly are not the Greens but locally they are a progressive party. The die is now caste for the next election; vote for progressive labour and green parties or regressive conservatives that plan to slash, burn and privatise (for little or no council tax saving!)
Dont agree with the rise, but then I don't live in Brighton anymore, and mid sussex council have frozen mine. They are actually Tory run so at a local level the Tories seem so run things better. At a national level the Tories are ruining this country. The economy has barely grown since 2011 since all their massive cuts took over. 2013 won't be much better. Looks like we will miss the recession by the very skins of our teeth thanks to their measures
They have lost the AAA rating we have had since 1978, ironically, just before Thatcher came to power! Well done Tory boys, keep patting your rich mates on the back.
Warren Morgan
says...
2:34pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Why would councillors increase council tax if they didn’t have to? Councillors, their friends, family and neighbours have to pay council tax, and politicians who don’t put up council tax are likely to win more votes, so surely it is in their self interest to keep tax levels down?
Why would councillors increase the financial pressures being placed on middle and low income families already hit by above inflation gas, electricity and water bill rises, massive benefit cuts, increased prescription charges, growing food and fuel bills if they did not have to? Surely that will lead to more people in poverty who seek help from those same councillors?
Why have dozens of Conservative councils not taken up the Conservative government’s “tax freeze” grant, and put up council tax? The Conservative led-Local Government Association said yesterday that “local authorities are facing a 33% cut in funding from government at the same time as the cost of providing services like adult social care is climbing through the roof. The council tax grant from government is very small when set against those pressures and it lasts just two years with no certainty beyond that. Ultimately councils have to take a long-term view. Some have clearly decided that increasing council tax is one way of meeting current costs and alleviating pressure in the longer term.” Are they wrong?
Why did the Conservative leader of Canterbury city council say this week that the government council tax grant was for a limited amount of time, meaning that when the extra money to freeze council tax ended, "you're still losing that permanent element of a tax base. Don't forget we've got no compensation now, ever, for inflation. Our services, cost of services are going up, we're determined to keep a high standard of those services as long as possible, and also, in the end, to keep services going." Is he wrong and our local Tories right?
Why couldn’t the Conservative group on Brighton and Hove Council find the savings needed to qualify for the grant, instead seeking to borrow over half a million pounds to get just over a million back?
If the Conservative Group on Brighton and Hove City Council believe in tax freezes, why did they increase council tax by 3.9% and 2.5% when in power between 2007-11, when the government grant was not being cut by millions?
If the Labour Party are supposedly ideologically bound to increase taxes, why was it the Labour Group which last year proposed the amendment which led to council tax being frozen for 2012/13?
The reality is that council costs are going up by the rate of inflation if not more. The council is making savings but these are far outweighed by the £25 million cuts to its budget made by the Conservative government, as well as millions of pounds in additional costs created by the government handing the responsibility but not the funding for housing benefit over to local councils. Making further cuts on top of the tens of millions imposed by the Government to qualify for little over a million back will only lead to worse services and more job losses.
The Labour group would have found those savings if possible to spare hard-pressed residents more cost, and to prevent more people being tipped into poverty. Options for savings proposals were very limited. Our amendments could only succeed with support from either the Greens or the Tories.
It’s the Tory government who are trying to discredit local councils so they can strip down local government to the bare essentials, with services then delivered by profit-seeking private companies like Capita and G4S. We've seen this week from British Gas and the banks how their charges, profits and executive pay and bonuses rise while the Conservative Government refuses to cap them as it has with council funding.
Fercri Sakes
says...
3:28pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Well said.
fred clause
says...
6:48pm Fri 1 Mar 13
Somethingsarejustwrong
says...
10:04pm Fri 1 Mar 13
ourcoalition wrote:You really are very stupid!
Labour support of the Greens was considered and correct. If you accept Eric Pickle's "bribe", then you reduce your annual tax base year on year - that equals more cuts on top of the 28% he has already inflicted on local Councils.
And it's not just Greens raising Council Tax - 41% are doing this nationally with some interesting names in the S.E. - Guildford, Surrey County Council, for example.
Do we want a decent society, or survival of the fittest (richest) - that is what it comes down to!
ourcoalition
says...
10:12pm Fri 1 Mar 13
SomethingsarejustwroBrilliant reply!!!
ng wrote:
ourcoalition wrote:You really are very stupid!
Labour support of the Greens was considered and correct. If you accept Eric Pickle's "bribe", then you reduce your annual tax base year on year - that equals more cuts on top of the 28% he has already inflicted on local Councils.
And it's not just Greens raising Council Tax - 41% are doing this nationally with some interesting names in the S.E. - Guildford, Surrey County Council, for example.
Do we want a decent society, or survival of the fittest (richest) - that is what it comes down to!
Somethingsarejustwrong
says...
8:51am Sat 2 Mar 13
ourcoalition wrote:I was trying my best to be constructive, however when dealing with someone like you who is so entrenched in all things that are clearly wrong, that was the best I could manage!
SomethingsarejustwroBrilliant reply!!!
ng wrote:
ourcoalition wrote:You really are very stupid!
Labour support of the Greens was considered and correct. If you accept Eric Pickle's "bribe", then you reduce your annual tax base year on year - that equals more cuts on top of the 28% he has already inflicted on local Councils.
And it's not just Greens raising Council Tax - 41% are doing this nationally with some interesting names in the S.E. - Guildford, Surrey County Council, for example.
Do we want a decent society, or survival of the fittest (richest) - that is what it comes down to!
Bt'n-breezy says...
8:23pm Thu 28 Feb 13