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CORNWALL COUNCIL SETS BUDGET FOR 2008, have we been fleeced?

Cornwall Council has set a budget which will see Council tax bills for a Band D property rise by £47 a year, the equivalent of 92 pence a week.


Members voted by 42 votes to 19 to support the recommendation for a 4.9% annual increase – taking the Council’s budget to £341.261 million.

Council Leader David Whalley (Lib Dem) told today’s meeting that this had been a very difficult budget to set which had involved making some tough decisions. He said that while Cornwall had been given a £6.1 million increase in the settlement, the Government’s own assessment of needs had shown that the county should have received a further £17 million. This additional funding would have meant the Council could have reduced Council Tax bills by £38 for each household in Cornwall.

Mr Whalley outlined a number of budget risks facing the County Council over the next twelve months, including the future development of Newquay Airport, meeting the needs of people with learning disabilities and rising costs of waste disposal, with landfill tax rising from £11 million in 2002/2003 to £29 million last year – an increase of 164%.

The County Council has a well deserved reputation for managing its finances efficiently. Over the last three years it has generated efficiency savings of around £24 million at the same time as setting the second lowest average Band D Council Tax among the 34 English shire counties.

Outlining this year’s Budget proposal, Mr Whalley said it gave additional resources to both Adult Social Care and the Fire Brigade, at the same time as allocating £3.7 million to build more affordable homes in the county and meeting the extra Government taxation on landfill.
“The aim of this Budget is to put more money into key frontline services” he said. “It gives an additional £2.7 million to Adult Social Care to protect the most vulnerable in our communities, one of the Council’s top priorities, and an additional £500,000 to Children’s Social Care”.

“It also gives an additional £1.1 million to Cornwall Fire Brigade, which is the largest increase in the Fire budget for the past five years. This will guarantee the maintenance of the current level of full time fire fighters in the county and start the process to transform the Retained Service. We are also keeping our promise to build more affordable homes”.

“However we could do even more if we had the money the Government’s own formula says we need to provide services to the people of Cornwall. Our ability to meet all the pressures we face is constrained by the straightjacket set by the Government and the unfairness of the Council tax system.

“The Council Tax is an unfair tax which hits hardest those least able
to pay. It is a tax that has had its day and should be scrapped. We are continually faced with balancing the need to keep Council tax bills low and the knowledge that vulnerable people in the county desperately need the services we provide.

“This is a good budget for the Council and for the people of Cornwall within the constraints we are facing”.

The County Council’s precept on Council Tax bills will therefore be:
Band A £678.49
Band B £791.57
Band C £904.65
Band D £1.017.73
Band E £1,243.89
Band F £1,470.05
Band G £1,696,22
Band H £2,035.46

The national average Council Tax bill covers a Band D property, but more than two out of every three properties in Cornwall are in the lower tax bands of A, B and C. More than one in three households in Cornwall do not pay the full amount of Council Tax at all, due to rebates and benefits.

No decision on possible changes to levels of fire cover at Falmouth and Camborne was made at today’s meeting as this is currently the subject of a countywide review into standards of fire cover.