At Cabinet today the Administration will bring forward proposals that will limit April’s Council Tax increase to an inflation-busting 3.5%. The current RPI is 4.4%.Their budget includes a suggested £15.5 million extra for front line services. Street cleaning, waste disposal, libraries, new specialist teaching facilities, parks and support for children and families will all receive extra investment.
Top priority for the Administration is cleaning up the City. They
have earmarked an extra £200,000 to fund specialist cleansing
teams who will move from community to community targeting
‘grot’ spots. An extra £67,000 is to be spent on better sweeping
machines that can get into more awkward places.
£2.4 million has been set aside for children with additional learning needs, which includes new specialist teaching facilities. £1.1 million is to be invested in child and family services, including foster care, adoption and parent support, whilst an extra £500,000 has been provided for adult services such as care homes and domicillary care. £45,000 is to be invested in extending library opening hours, whilst school spending has once more been kept higher than Assembly Government guidelines.
For many people the headline Council Tax rate is the most important factor and we are proud that we have managed to invest in services whilst maintaining an average rise of 3.9% over our three budgets. Compare that to Labour, whose average tax increase was 8.66%, a rate achieved whilst simultaneously allowing all of the City's assets to fall into major disrepair. Now that was incompetence.
