Brighton & Hove not alone in planning to reject council tax freeze

Brighton and Hove City Council do not appear to be alone in planning to reject the Coalition Government’s incentive to freeze council tax in the next financial year.

A study has identified that as many as one in five councils are considering turning down the offer and the proportion is considerably higher when looking at those run by national opposition parties.

Brighton and Hove City Council was the first council to publicly state its plan to reject the freeze and has instead vowed to increased council tax by 3.5% (the maximum before a referendum is triggered) in 2012/13. It has been savaged by Conservatives in the city and sections of the local press, even though the council’s cabinet member for finance has explained the implication is merely a 57p rise per week in council tax per household.

Councillor Jason Kitcat has also explained the council will be better off through rejecting what he calls a ‘gimmick’ as councils accepting the freeze will have to take drastic action to compensate when the one-year offer from the government expires.

A study by Local Government Chronicle shows the state of play among local councils that have declared their intentions, with 12 listed as planning to rise council tax by at least 3%.

See Cllr Kitcat explaining the Green Party’s position on BBC’s Politics Show.

Related Posts:

• Tories slam Green’s handling of council’s finances
• Council explain reasoning behind council tax increase
• Greens announce European election candidates
• Labour Lord dismisses city council leader-in-waiting
• Jason Kitcat to become new council leader

Posted by Joseph Lewis on January 24, 2012. Filed under Brighton Politics,Council News,Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry