FAT CAT LABOUR HIKE COUNCIL TAX YET AGAIN!

 

LABOUR APPROVE ABOVE-AVERAGE TAX INCREASE, REJECT CONSERVATIVE TAX FREEZE & PROPOSAL FOR EXTRA £1m TO REPAIR ROADS

Tameside’s Labour-controlled Council last night approved yet another Council Tax hike.

Labour plan to heap more misery on hard-pressed, working families, the elderly and vulnerable residents during 2010/11, with a tax increase that will be above the national average.

It flies in the face of efforts by local authorities of differing political control across the country to freeze Council Tax for the forthcoming year – including Labour-controlled Manchester and Salford, and EIGHT Labour-controlled London authorities.

And a Conservative amendment to rid the budget of Labour excess and FREEZE Council Tax, as well as provide an EXTRA £1million to repair the borough’s dilapidated roads, was REJECTED by Labour.

It is the SECOND year running that Labour has rejected Conservative proposals to rid the budget of waste and freeze Council Tax.

In total, Tameside householders will be pay between £22 and £65-a-year MORE in the next financial year than they have done this year, with a total increase of 2.45 per cent (including precepts) higher than the estimated 1.6 per cent national average increase.

And residents would have SAVED between £45 and £135 over two years if Conservative proposals to freeze Council Tax had been approved this year and last. 

Conservative proposals included:

• Scrapping £442,000 for bronze statues, maps and ‘cultural’ developments;
• Redirecting the £400,000 2009/10 Council Tax surplus towards the freeze;
• Scrapping the Cabinet’s £100,000-a-year political contingency fund;
• Slashing the excessive advertising and propaganda budget by £672,000; and,
• Freezing the creation of additional council jobs, saving over £1.5million in the next 12 months.

The proposed savings – which would not have affected frontline services – amounted to over £3.1million, and allowed, with the use of just £59,000 of council reserves, to fund an extra £1million road repairs to reduce the £40 million road repair bill built up by Labour in Tameside.

The Conservatives also pledge to continue backing the £15million Tameside Works First initiative.

At a heated meeting, Cllr. John Bell, the Conservative Leader, said, “This year, we once again debate this budget, with the country on its knees. The people of Tameside deserve straight talking. Labour’s smoke and mirrors won’t wash anymore.

“We cannot indulge in wasteful schemes – such as that seen with the proliferation of bronze statues. People want their bins emptying and the potholes filled before their money is spent on statues.

“Costs need to be reduced, basic services improved, jobs protected and local businesses supported. More of the same Labour “spend, spend, spend” philosophy is no longer good enough.

“Taxpayers should not have to continue paying more for less. It is about time they paid less for more.

“Between the 1st April 2009 and 1st December 2009, Tameside Council recruited an extra 54 full-time members of staff, at an increased average cost of £1.05million. Whilst we support this council’s “no redundancy” policy, we do not support bloated local bureaucracy.

“Despite continual discussions by senior council officers about the Council’s over-staffing problem, little progress has been made to reduce staff numbers through retirements and natural wastage.

“Of course, there are areas where staff numbers need to be protected, such as those who work with young, elderly and vulnerable residents.

“However, we should be looking to reduce the number of staff we need, whilst improving support to those members of staff we have.

“At every opportunity we need to be providing the best value for money possible for council taxpayers.”

TIRED TAMESIDE LABOUR ‘CARRY ON REGARDLESS’

An old list of Tameside Council statutory commitments and wasteful projects made up most of this year’s annual business address by the Labour Leader of the Council, Cllr. Roy Oldham.

The address, which took place during last night’s annual business meeting of Full Council, was delivered against the backdrop of the worst recession in living memory.

Commenting on the Labour Leaders’ annual council address, Cllr. John Bell, the Conservative Opposition Leader, said:

“Beyond the Council’s Works First programme, there is little for us to support in Cllr. Oldham’s address – which highlights his intention to carry on regardless in the face of arguably the worst recession in living memory.

“The Works First programme has cross-party support and that is why I will be working closely with Cllr. Oldham and the council team to ensure the borough’s businesses are supported as much as possible during these difficult times.

“However, there is so much more that could be done which isn’t being done. Putting aside the litany of statutory work that Cllr. Oldham reeled out, there is no mention of reducing waste in the budget; such as the £695,000 being spent on items like street art, bronze statues, and bronze maps, and including a £160,000 increase in the council’s publicity budget.

“As a result, Council Tax will carry on increasing when it could have been frozen, and the taxpayer will be deluged with propaganda, funded via their own Council Tax, from a self-obsessed, tired Labour council that is short on wit and wherewithal.”

WHERE’S OUR MONEY GOING?

 

CLLR. JOHN BELL – LABOUR ARE SPENDING TAXPAYERS’ MONEY ON PROPAGANDA

 

The Leader of Tameside Conservatives, Cllr. John Bell, has hit out at Tameside Council’s Labour Economic Chief, after it was revealed that just 23 per cent of the council’s annual expenditure is spent in the borough.

 

Cllr. Kieran Quinn, claimed that just 23 per cent of Tameside Council’s annual expenditure is spent in Tameside, prompting Cllr. Bell to ask, “So where does the other 77 per cent of expenditure – over £100 million – go each year? “

 

Cllr. Bell also said that the Conservative Group supported the council’s Works First initiative to promote and assist local businesses during the recession, but claimed that with so much expenditure being spent elsewhere, “It’s obvious his [Cllr. Quinn’s] Labour council has been putting Tameside works second for too long.”

 

Cllr. Bell said, “The Conservatives, in principle, support the Tameside Works First initiative. Indeed, its main aim – for the council to pay its bills early – is an idea borrowed from Conservative Leader, David Cameron. It’s an improvement on Labour’s old policy, which saw them take up to NINETY days to pay the council’s bills.”

 

Cllr. Bell also asked, “What is being done for hard-pressed council taxpayers? Nothing.

 

“Tameside Labour rejected the Conservative amendment to FREEZE council tax, and instead voted for a 3.15 per cent hike. It never crossed their minds to cut waste in their budget. It never does.

 

“Instead, they are forcing Tameside council taxpayers to cough up an extra £23 to £70-a-year EXTRA to pay for guff such as: street art and statues,  (£288,000), bronze maps (£42,000), community notice boards (£60,000), State of the Area Address (£11,000), Tameside Citizen newspaper (£49,000), Tameside TV (£47,000), and marketing & communications budget increase (£160,000)

 

“Scrapping these items, along with a moratorium on recruitment – to combat the council’s recognised problem of over-staffing – and a small use of reserves (£402,000 from a pot of £25 million), and Tameside Labour could have supported Conservative proposals and FROZEN council tax for the forthcoming year.

 

“They didn’t, and now plan a year of propaganda at council taxpayers’ expense.”

 

Cllr. Bell concluded, “Council taxpayers – don’t be fooled. It’s YOUR money Labour are wasting on THEIR propaganda.”