Cornwall Council agrees 2.9% tax rise
CORNISH residents will face a council tax rise of almost 3 per cent to help boost council coffers, it was agreed yesterday.
The 2.9 per cent increase will mean the council tax for a band D property for 2010/11 will rise to £1,244.41 – an increase of about 67p a week.
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Cornwall Council
The decision was made at a full meeting of Cornwall Council in Truro yesterday as part of a vote on setting the unitary authority budget.
Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson said the annual council budget of £451.9 million, including the decision to increase council tax, was "a good one, founded on good Cornish common sense and pragmatism".
But some councillors accused the council of a "lack of transparency", suggesting the report prepared for the meeting did not contain enough details about potential cuts to services.
There were also concerns from campaigners that some Cornish council tax payers would be unable to afford the increases.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "People in Cornwall have suffered massively from the recession and very few people can afford to pay extra council tax.
"The council should be focused on cutting out all waste and unnecessary activities in order to reduce the burden on local people."
Protester Peter Collins, treasurer of Penwith 50+ Forum, said that the council tax rise would be an additional burden on the county's already cash-strapped pensioners.
Earlier, Mr Collins joined nearly 30 others in launching a demonstration outside County Hall, aimed at creating awareness of poverty among the region's older people.
He said: "The tax rise is going to be very difficult to find for some elderly people because I am sure their pensions are not going to increase by the same amount."
Budget pressures, including an increased demand for services and a reduction in income levels and the need to find funding for "priority" areas, resulted in the council tax rise being included in the budget.
Priority areas identified by the council include the adult care and support department responsible for adult social care, recently described as "adequate" by the Care Quality Commission.
Services responsible for the protection of vulnerable children, as well as those looking after the county's elderly, are also considered a priority by council chiefs.
But the budget states that children's services spending is to be cut in the long-term. An extra £2 million will be spent in 2010, but cuts will follow, said Coun Robertson.
The fire service budget is also to be cut by £800,000 over four years as the council looks to make £100 million spending cuts by 2014.
Yesterday's debate, watched by a packed public gallery, was curtailed just before lunch due to many elected members speaking for more than their allocated time.
More than a dozen councillors were left disappointed when they were refused the opportunity to ask further questions about the budget before the vote was taken.
Coun Jeremy Rowe, who had planned to ask a question about library services, said: "There are now a whole load of unanswered questions about this budget."
After the meeting, council leader Mr Robertson was asked to reflect on claims made in 2008 by One Cornwall, the team engineering the move from district and county councils to unitary authority, that the savings generated from it would offset the transition costs by 2011.
Mr Robertson said: "There has been streamlining and we have achieved savings of around £15 million this year. But the other side of the coin is the cost associated with becoming a unitary authority, which we underestimated, and we have had to address that in this budget."
10 Comments
by ken johns, launceston
Wednesday, February 24 2010, 8:30AM
“Isn'y it interesting that nobody has mentioned the great savings that were to be made out of One Cornwall. Why is Cornwall so much higher than the average 1.9%, is it the outrageus salaries we pay the leaders?”
by Geoffrey, Budock H2O
Friday, February 19 2010, 10:47AM
“Let us get started on economies by getting rid of the guy who is paid more than the Prime Minister. That would save £210,000.”
by Cousin Jack, Truro
Thursday, February 18 2010, 3:36PM
“I thought the idea behind becoming a unitary authority was to reduce costs to the taxpayer! Do the council think Joe Public are so gullible!
I don't suppose in these hard times the council will think to impose a pay freeze, a reduction in pay or even a shorter working week like some of us have had to endure for our jobs/ businesses to survive.
Perhaps if they hadn't spent so much buying a quarry in Penzance we might not have had to have a rise in tax.”
by Dave Joslin, St Austell
Thursday, February 18 2010, 3:19PM
“Mr Lavery is not the only guilty one though how any public servant, and face it that is what he is, can justify being paid more than the Prime Minister I do not know. But then thank the Lib Dems, who had to go all the way to York for a CEO, for that. Another official got £16,000 in taxi fares. As that is more than most Cornish people have to live on I consider that to be fraud. When cuts are made it will not be the fat cats at the top but the workers and the services will suffer.”
by sue, bodmin, bodmin
Thursday, February 18 2010, 3:16PM
“where is the council tax table that you said was on this web site?”
by len hudson, st austell
Thursday, February 18 2010, 11:29AM
“another rise in council tax , just to give the top dogs a rise in pay . any rise in our pension will be gone before we get it”
by Alan Percy, Holywell Bay
Wednesday, February 17 2010, 3:52PM
“The Cornish Guardian of 17th Feb 2010, page 24, states that a full table of council tax rates for 2010/2011 is to be found on this website.
Where is the table?”
by Christine, Indian Queens
Wednesday, February 17 2010, 3:17PM
“So Kevin Lavery chief executive of Cornwall Council has claimed more than £10,000 in expenses during the last nine months. That is about the same amount of money that most Cornish people have to live on, and we are expected to pay over £1,000 a year in council tax to give this fat cat about £200,000 a year in wages!! Why can't he pay his expenses out of his own money like the rest of us? Come on Cornish residents, where is your Trelawney spirit, it is time to create merry hell.”
by Equalities Adviser, Penzance
Wednesday, February 17 2010, 1:39PM
“Under the new Single Equality Bill due to become law this autumn, the council will have a duty to consider socio-economic inequalities. This is obviously one of this biggest inequalities in Cornwall, as a result of low incomes and a lack of opportunities this will result in an increase in crime, and other issues resulting from poverty. Domestic violence costs Devon and Cornwall almost £700m p.a. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men will experience DV in thier lifetimes. Half of all the children living in these families are also abused and a third of these are on the at risk list. There are also considerable effects on the community - has an impact assessment on this increase been carried out to assess the possible impacts on the whole of Cornwall's residents??
The life chances of children, adults and older people already living in poverty and those who could be put into poverty as a result of this increase need to be considered.”
by Gary, Saltash
Wednesday, February 17 2010, 1:15PM
“Do you think we need the audit commissions to tell us the blindingly obvious, think SITA, the council is run by people who think Cornwall is an Arab state with blank cheque books
National Statistics office claim though I doubt the average wage in Cornwall is £329.30 a week. (BTW in the rest of England its £429) The council wants £100 a month only slightly less than the rest of the country, thus the Cornish are significantly made worse off and the council shows no effort to end the gravy train
The fact is that taxes are going to keep going up until national and local politicians start to get a grip on waste and unnecessary spending and start to realise that the money they spend belongs to the public, not them.”