No council tax rebate for long-suffering residents in bins strike
THOUSANDS of taxpayers who demanded a refund from Birmingham City Council after this year’s bin strikes have been told they will not be getting one.
Nearly 14,000 people put their name to an online petition demanding the council “refund residents a proportion of their council tax for each missed household”.
But new Ward ruled meeting of was asked city leader Cllr Ian out any refund at a the full council. He to consider it after being presented with a petition of 13,700 names.
It has been revealed that the city council has spent £6.6 million extra to tackle the bin dispute which includes the costs of bringing in outside contractors, paying overtime and extra clean up costs.
Cllr Alex Yip (Con, Sutton New Hall) had raised the online petition during the summer strike.
The petition called for the council, in recognition of the disruption and inconvenience experienced by the city’s 400,000 households to offer a rebate or refund.
Cllr Yip said that the strike had a massive impact on the city. “Will the leader agree to the request?” he said. Cllr Ward replied: “I can quite understand why Councillor Yip has taken the approach he has.”
He reminded councillors that there had been a bin strike in 2010, when Conservatives led the city and that they had not offered a rebate when residents demanded it.
“But all of us understand that council tax is not collected for specific services,” said Cllr Ward.
He added that the surest way to solve the issue is to resolve the dispute with the binmen “and that is what I am determined to do”.
Cllr Ward was confirmed as leader at the start of the council meeting after holding the interim post since the resignation of his predecessor John Clancy in September.
But there was better news for users of the council’s paid garden waste service after it was confirmed officials were working on a means of offering a goodwill rebate.
Also formally appointed was the new council deputy leader Brigid Jones and the new cabinet member for children’s services and education, veteran councillor Carl Rice. Cllr Shafique Shah replaced Cllr Rice as deputy Lord Mayor.