Council tax freeze agreed
Average household to save £139 under third year of freeze
South Gloucestershire Council has agreed to freeze its part of the Council Tax for a third year running, delighting Conservative councillors.
At tonight’s (Wednesday 20th February) council budget-setting meeting, almost all councillors voted in support of a ‘consensus’ budget, which includes the key Conservative budget demand for a third council tax freeze, which will have saved the average Band D household £139 over 3 years.
Conservative councillors had identified the £0.9m needed to freeze the council tax by freezing the council’s provision for inflation, although inflationary increases written into the council’s contracts would remain unaffected.
Also agreed were Conservative demands for a Fair Pay Review to control the pay of the council’s higher earners – councillors heard at the meeting how 8 of the authority’s highest paid officers earning a minimum £77,000 a year salary will receive an automatic contractually-obliged £2,032 ‘pay increment’ next year.
This pay increment would be on top of a potential public sector-wide 1 per cent pay rise in 2013/14, which is still the subject of national negotiations between trade unions and local government employers.
Cllr John Calway (Con, Longwell Green), Leader of the Conservative Group on the politically ‘hung’ council, said:
“The Conservative group’s number one priority is to protect hardworking local households who are struggling with the rising cost of living and so we are delighted that the other political groups agreed to drop their plans to increase council tax by 2 per cent and freeze it instead.
As a result of this third freeze, the average Band D household will have saved £139 on their council tax bill over 3 years. That’s money which is staying in people’s pockets to be spent in our local economy and supporting local businesses.”
He added:
“We are pleased that our demand to carry out a Fair Pay Review has been included in the council’s budget because, as well as protecting workers on low pay, we also need to control pay at the top of the council.”
The only councillor to vote against the budget was Chipping Sodbury LibDem councillor Adrian Rush.