4.5% Will Give Extra Investment to Safeguard Vulnerable, but Cllrs will need to 'tighten their belts' (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

4.5% Will Give Extra Investment to Safeguard Vulnerable, but Cllrs will need to 'tighten their belts'

February 28, 2006 4:52 PM

Cllr Mark Harris will this afternoon deliver the Administrations Annual Budget Speech to the Full Council. As well as providing additional funding for key areas such as Social Services he will also be announcing a freeze in Councillors allowances and cutbacks in other provisions for Councillors support including the ending of their subsidised meals at the Members Club in the Civic Hall

Councillor Mark Harris (Lib Dem Moortown), Joint Leader of Council and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said "This year we have faced another poor settlement from central government - for all our expenditure outside schools they have only allowed us an increase of 2.5%, well below the average of 3.4% and far below that of Southern Councils - for example Dorset received 6.4%. On top of that the Government is actually taking back over two million pounds through its system of 'floors and ceilings' - money which will be used to subsidise other Councils elsewhere in England.

"However, the budget we are proposing will mean that the people of Leeds will not suffer as a result. In fact, we are proposing dramatic investment into services, way above the 2.5% increase which the government has given us. If we had stuck to this, there would only have been an extra £2.7million available for services. Instead we have invested, particularly for the most disadvantaged in our City, an additional £17million in our Social Services in Leeds. This means we have now increased spending in Social Services by £38 million (or over 20%) above that put in the last Labour budget, and we have made this investment in only two years. That alone gives the lie to the constant harping of 'cuts, cuts and cuts' from the Opposition."

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"However this vital investment in services costs, and we have had to increase our part of the Council Tax by 4.5% or £42.25 for a Band D tax payer. At 4.5% the rise in Council Tax meets government guidelines, and actually means that for the 60%+ of Leeds Council Tax Payers in Bands A and B our part of the Council Tax will increase by a maximum of £32.86, or less than £3 per month. If we had held the increase in our Social Services budget to the Government increase of 2.5% we could have cut Council Tax, but this administration is committed to defending services for our most vulnerable - not cutting services!"

"In order to keep the increase as low as it is we have had to make some hard decisions and the administration has agreed to propose the freeze in Cllrs allowances for this coming year. We are also planning to end the subsidy to the members canteen, we cut it in half last year but we will now end it completely. While this alone will not make a major difference to the Council's finances it does send a clear message that we are willing to tighten our belts."

The views in this Press Release are those of the Liberal Democrat Council Group, and not necessarily those of Leeds City Council, its Officers or of the Liberal Democrat Party.