Challenges we’re all facing from rising costs
Council tax is a flat tax so has to increase just to keep up with rising costs.
COUNCIL BUDGET decisions are difficult – for many reasons.
I like to think of myself as a pretty positive person, but every year I reach the budget meeting angry and frustrated about the position that our council is placed in by the Conservative central Government.
Since 2010, the amount of funding provided from the Conservative central Government to local Government to fund local services has halved.
That in a nutshell is why council tax has increased.
It’s why Calderdale like every other council has had to make tough choices about cutting services.
And that’s why I will make no apology for calling out a Conservative party that deliberately places local councils in the impossible position of needing to cut services and raise council taxes, and then has the hypocrisy to campaign against the local consequences of their own actions – something we saw again this year, and will no doubt see repeated in Conservative election claims.
Of course it’s easy for local Conservative to make wild claims, particularly when they know it’s very unlikely that they will be in any position to have to deliver on them.
And thank goodness for that, given that the changes they proposed, if acted on, would risk damaging children’s social care in
particular and create chaos in the planning service.
The first priority in the Labour budget approved by
council is to continue to make sure the council finances are on a sound and prudent footing.
This is no small achievement after two years of turmoil caused by the pandemic which has raised many costs and devastated income levels from leisure, parking and other services.
Secondly, we are continuing to protect the services that keep children safe.
And we have planned for spending on adult social care to grow substantially. That’s about making sure that everyone who needs care and support – whether working age and older – gets the help required to live as full a life as possible.
Thirdly, we are tackling some of the problems that have been frustrating local residents – acting to improve the recycling service and deal with delays in planning, for example.
Local councils could be funded differently.
Council tax is a flat tax so has to increase just to keep up with rising costs (unlike the taxes that fund central government).
And whilst most of us think of it paying for our parks, streets, and so on, actually two thirds of it goes to fund vital support for adults and children.
What is needed is a new and fair system of funding Social Care which does not put the burden on Council Tax payers and the squeeze on all other Local Authority spending.
The Government says the rise in National Insurance will solve this. It won’t. It’s just another tax which has a big impact on the lower paid.
That’s why despite the big challenges we’re all facing from rising costs, Council tax has to rise – as ever, the Government left us with no choice!
newsdesk@halifaxcourier.co.uk