As I feared when I wrote at the end of January, the Conservatives at Surrey County Council have voted to increase council tax by 1.99% for the year starting April 2013.  This is despite the fact that they could have used the money offered by the government to keep council tax down and used some of the more than £200 million they have squirrelled away in reserves and held council tax at its current rate.

The Conservatives have said that keeping the tax down would mean they couldn’t spend money on roads and services for young and older people.  That is nonsense.  The council has more than enough money in reserves to be able to keep to the spending levels set out in their budget.  Even the Conservative Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, has said that “Given the steady rise in reserves over the last two years, it is irresponsible that certain sections of local government have chosen to needlessly scare the public with unfounded and baseless accusations”.  He has also said “Councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living.  Anything less is a kick in the teeth to hard-working, decent taxpayers”.

There are many families in Surrey whose income has not increased in line with inflation but they still face above-inflation increases in bills for their light and heating, their water company costs and fuel for their cars.  Surrey Conservatives had an opportunity to help those families and they turned it down.

Surrey Lib Dems press release gives further details below:

 

       Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats

PRESS RELEASE

 

12 February 2013

 

Only Lib Dems support Surrey Council Tax freeze

Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council were the only party at today’s budget setting meeting to vote for a freeze in Council Tax for Surrey residents, and against the Conservative administration’s 1.99% Council Tax increase.

In the critical Council Tax vote today every Conservative County Councillor present voted for an increase of 1.99% in Council Tax, while every Liberal Democrat voted against. Several Conservatives were absent for the vote, with one leaving the room just seconds before the vote. Members of the Residents and Independents group all either abstained or voted with the Conservatives. Surrey’s one Labour County Councillor was not at the meeting.

Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition Cllr Hazel Watson said: “There is enough money stashed away in the administration’s coffers to freeze Council Tax and improve services for Surrey residents where there is a real need to do so.

“Many councils across the country have voted for a Council Tax freeze for the coming financial year, I believe Surrey residents should benefit in the same way.

“Eric Pickles, the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has said: ‘Freezing council tax is practical help every councillor can offer their constituents’ and ‘Councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living. Anything less is a kick in the teeth to hard-working, decent taxpayers.’ He is right.”

Hazel Watson continued: “Liberal Democrats called for more money for Surrey’s roads and pavements, and proposed that more should be spent than the Conservative proposals on making Surrey’s highways safer for motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders. In addition we called for more support for voluntary organisations, for respite care for the elderly and children with disabilities and for youth services. This was all in addition to the funding for services in the administration’s budget.”

Fiona White, Liberal Democrat Deputy Group Leader, said: “The Conservatives say the increase is the price of a pint of milk a week. For many families on fixed incomes, who are finding budgeting very tight, this could mean one less bottle of milk.”

 

Text of speech by Hazel Watson:

 

Hazel Watson – Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition – Budget Speech for 2013/14. 12 February 2013

 

I request a recorded vote on the administration’s budget for 2013/14.

I will be voting against the administration’s Budget, because there is enough money stashed away in the administration’s coffers to freeze Council Tax and improve services for Surrey residents where there is a real need to do so.

The administration has highlighted they are cutting non schools earmarked reserves from £112 million on 31 March 2012 to £100 million on 31 March 2013. What they fail to mention is that the level of these reserves rocketed from £37 million on 31 March 2010 to £112 million on 31 March 2012, nearly a three-fold increase in two years.

Essential services have been underfunded by the administration at County Hall. Our proposals are easily affordable given that the administration has squirreled away over £200 million in reserves and balances.

While I support the extra funding for Surrey’s highways, it is not enough.

I propose an extra £6.5 million to improve the condition of the County’s roads and footways as well as schemes to improve safety for all road users including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders. This is in addition to the extra money from government, making a total of £9.1 million extra for Surrey’s roads and footways, £1.5 million more than the administration are proposing. Our budget plans include funding to help deal with Surrey’s massive backlog of investment in essential road resurfacing, tackle flooding on Surrey roads, extra grit bins and money to reduce speed limits including 20 mph zones without physical traffic calming.

I propose £400,000 extra support per year, plus £100,000 one off funding for 2013/14, for voluntary organisations that provide essential local services for Surrey residents. This money would restore the administration’s £200,000 cut to voluntary organisations in 2012/13. On top of this the we would grant £200,000 to voluntary organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureaux to provide much needed debt advice for Surrey residents. The extra £100,000 for 2013/14 only is to help voluntary organisations provide advice to Surrey residents in a year of benefits changes.

We propose £800,000 to increase the opening hours of youth centres and to provide more detached youth work in local communities.

The administration cut £355,000 last year from respite care for children with disabilities; we would restore £400,000 to this essential service.

We provide an extra £600,000 of funding for respite care for older people which is currently underfunded to the tune of £500,000. The further £100,000 will be used to meet growing demand for this service.

Our budget plans for 2013/14 amount to an extra £6.5 million capital and £2.3 million revenue. This would be funded by halving the excessive £2 million budget for glossy publications and PR spin. The rest of the money would be taken from the huge cash reserves and balances hoarded by the administration totalling over £200 million.

Our Budget plan is a good deal for Surrey residents to improve essential services whilst freezing Council Tax. This contrasts starkly with the administration’s Budget which imposes a 1.99% Council Tax increase to hit the pockets of Surrey residents when it is completely unnecessary.

Eric Pickles is right when he says:

“It is unacceptable that some councils are stashing away billions, turning town halls into Fort Knox, whilst at the same time threatening to cut frontline services”

And

“Freezing council tax is practical help every councillor can offer their constituents”

And

‘Councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living. Anything less is a kick in the teeth to hard-working, decent taxpayers.’

NOTE  For full details of how councillors voted, see the full text of the press release.

 

 

 

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