‘Have the courage to ask if people are willing to pay more’

With the ruling Tory group snubbing a council tax hike to plug a £9m deficit, Labour councillor Dave Wilson asks why residents aren’t being given a choice....

Having seen enough financial crises to last a lifetime, I’m struck by how little our Tory councillors seem to have learned from the past. Struggling with what is undoubtedly the worst budget position this council has ever faced – a £9 million deficit - they seem determined to let dogma dictate their response, even though their own government has thrown 40 years of Tory financial orthodoxy in the bin. Budgeting in local government basically involves two choices: cut spending or raise taxes. Over the past 10 years this council has used just one: cut spending. That means reductions in services year by year and not putting away enough money for emergencies. Sadly, now we face the emergency of our lifetime. Conservatives around the district are even now reaching for their pens: “But we’ve created a third way: an entrepreneurial council that generates money from things like car parking and property rentals.” Given that the current income shortfall is almost directly attributable to catastrophic falls in both these sources, that argument might not be the best one to run with, especially while Whitefriars’ value plummets millions of pounds below the sum the council paid for it. It certainly

The budget proposes increasing service fees never made sense to use those monies to keep council tax artificially low, which is what has happened.

But the Tories are nothing if not irrational. Cllr Baldock challenged the council leader last week: why isn’t the council even prepared to consider asking residents if, rather than cut services, they might want to pay a little more in council tax? Tories threw their hands up in horror. How could anyone suggest such a thing! No one wants to pay more tax! Typical Labour! All of which would be more convincing if these same Tories had not, in the same meeting, argued long and hard to massively increase car parking charges, on top of already sneaking through an increase in charges by introducing a minimum onehour fee.

We clearly cannot look to this Tory group for logical thinking. Car users apparently don’t mind paying more, but don’t dare suggest we ask householders to pay even a few pence more to keep services in place. That is an absurd position, but it’s one the Tories are committed to. Pressed on why putting options to residents was unthinkable, the council leader and his cronies were beside themselves. We can’t give residents a choice! We have to exhibit leadership! They are absolutely certain, despite never having asked the question, that no one wants to pay more tax under any circumstances.

Which ignores that this is the most serious crisis. Unless something changes, this council may be unable to avoid sustained, deep cuts in services in 2022. So to not ask people whether, for example, they would prefer to pay a little extra tax or have bin collections cut to monthly is not some kind of unthinkable breach of etiquette. Leadership is not, despite what Cllr Fitter-harding thinks, about knowing what’s best for everyone else and asking them to agree with you: it’s about having the courage to ask tough questions, to listen to the range of views, and then take an informed decision which by definition will not please everyone. To pretend that a take-it-orleave-it question constitutes consultation is a symptom of cowardice. That, and a mistaken conviction that 40-year-old economic theory works despite all the evidence to the contrary, seems to be a hallmark of our council leadership.

‘To pretend that a take-it-or-leave-it question constitutes consultation is a symptom of cowardice’

Labour councillor Dave Wilson