Conservatives Council Tax Con Built on Cuts, Debt and Stealth Taxes

4.21.00pm GMT Sat 7th Feb 2009

Liberal Democrats in Windsor have welcomed lower Council tax rises announced by the Conservatives, but are alarmed by the way in which they are being paid for.

Broadly speaking the Conservatives are funding their low Council Tax in four ways:

STEALTH TAXES - Putting up Council charges well above the rate of inflation for the second year running for everything from Home Care and getting married to children's swimming.

CUTS - Cuts to some services, including: Youth Offending Team, Adult Community Learning Service, Early Years and Childcare Services, Youth Service, Book stock at libraries, Opening hours at Maidenhead Library, Learning Disability services.

BORROWING - £8million this year

SPENDING SAVINGS - Spending special savings built up by the former Lib Dem Administration's "Invest to Save" policy and intended to repay the capital costs of the money saving projects involved. (With the result that the full savings the policy was designed to achieve will now never be made as the debt will never be repaid and interest will have to be paid instead.)

The result of the Conservatives' policy is to deliver lower Council Tax Rises in the short term whilst leading to higher debts to service in the long run.

"This policy is the exact opposite of both the Conservatives' national policy platform and their election manifesto promises from May 2007, both of which call for lower government borrowing. Essentially this is another Tory Quick Fix - designed to leave them in a favourable position in May 2011, when the next council elections are due, but without any plan as to how things will work after that." says local Lib Dem Julian Tisi.

"Lower Council Tax is a good thing, but it needs to come from genuine improvements in the council's efficiency, not borrowing money and spending savings. Funding lower Council Tax in this way might mean lower Council Tax for the next 2-3 years, but servicing higher debts, without any plan to repay them, can only mean higher Council Taxes in the long run." says Simon Werner, leader of the Lib Dems at the council.

Some of the debt currently carried by the council is left over from the construction of the new Berkshire County Hall in the 1970's - the debt having outlasted the County Council.