Mike speaks out about Council Tax rises.  Support for local Tory position:

Written by Brian Oxley

Madam Mayor

The first thing I must do this afternoon is to thank the finance officers of the Council for their help and assistance over recent months. I would also pay tribute to the Budget Review Group process and the way it has helped to inform the budget choices all Parties on the Council face.

Madam Mayor

Budgets and the debates that surround them set the course of the Council over the next year and over longer time periods.

Our debate today has added weight because of the minority status of the Administration.

As colleagues weigh the merits of the respective Budget proposals, I hope they will consider which proposal keeps taxes as low as possible, targets waste and seeks to improve services. That in my view should be the basis of any Budget proposal and what should be our stance when carrying out the people’s business.

Our proposals take the Labour/Liberal package as its start.

Our First Amendment combines a number of additional expenditures with offsetting cuts elsewhere to leave no change net to the Budget.

We seek to add £23,000 to reinstate on a permanent basis the 91 and 96 bus routes so that uncertainty over these services is ended once and for all and so that when parents express a preference on their child’s school that preference can be realised.

We will add £75,000 to City Clean’s budget so that there can be a sustained blitz on graffiti. We believe in an attractive built environment at all times, not just when a local election is pending.  We will also add £35,000 to City Clean’s budget to improve training for staff so they can respond better to enquiries from residents which lead to a better performance on the ground.

We propose to add £10,000 to the sustainable transport budget so that preparation can start on audible bus stops. My colleague Cllr Pidgeon has long campaigned for this innovation and this will give that initiative a kick start. We also plan to add extra resources to Scrutiny by adding two new officers to that section so that reviews can be more timely and effective. The total cost of these improvements is £225,000.

The offsetting savings will be found from reducing spending on Communications by £150,000 this year and £250,000 in a full year. Some years ago when I was attacked for suggesting such a proposal `I was told that a modern local authority needs a communication department on the scale and size we have.

Well, if we need such a department then the Labour Government, which promised an end to local government under funding should give us the money to provide such a service. The Government has systematically changed the finance rules over the last 7 years so that now one of its so-called flagship Councils limps along on the floor of  a system which no longer recognises the special needs of Brighton and Hove or the nature of its two-tier economy. It is a disgrace.

We will also reduce spending on Personnel by £75,000. The changes in these departments will lead to significant gains by services that the public genuinely value and where extra activity will improve people’s lives.. I hope it will be possible to redeploy the staff who will be displaced by our savings proposals in these areas.

Our Second Amendment is designed to lighten the burden of taxes and costs on local residents.

We will reduce spending on arts organisations and housing groups. We propose to add support to mental health charities and money advice agencies. These are services that directly benefit local people.

The saving here will be £200,000. We will end affiliations to SEERA and the Peace Messenger Cities and we will confirm the P&R decision of last week to not affiliate to the LGIU. Whilst there is concern that we may lose influence at regional level by disaffiliating from SEERA, I have to tell Council that we are not the only Conservative Group considering this issue. Some Councils – like Wokingham – have proposed SEERA’s dissolution.

Our view that the LGIU and the Peace Messenger Cities are not what local people pay their taxes for is well known and so I shall not detain Council on those points any longer The overall saving from these disaffiliations will be £39,000. We also plan some savings in IT and the Planning Department.

These changes, taken together with the surplus that remains unspent from parking charges will enable us to reduce the Council Tax from a rise of 4.8% to a rise of 3.8% and reduce half hourly parking fees by 20% in central Brighton and by 60% in other parts of Brighton and in Hove.

People are fed up with charges from local government, whether it is in the form of direct taxes like the Council Tax or indirect taxes like parking charges forever going up. We propose to lower the rise of one and cut the other.

Two years ago, in our last election local people signalled they wanted a change. Now, when you ask around, they feel there has been no change. These amendments point to a different kind of balance in Brighton and Hove, where taxes and charges are not always rising, where non-essential so-called services are cut back and where people feel they receive better value and money is spent on the priorities they share.

If the minor Parties will vote with us, then the people will see a change and they will know their votes did achieve something two years ago.

If Labour’s Budget wins today those who support it will know they have two years to explain themselves before the electorate decides their fate.

Conservative Party - Budget Amendment Proposals - Revenue Budget 2005/06

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