4.9% for you… 30% for Me...
"Me” being your local Labour and Conservative councillor’s.
Published 04 May 2018
Until this year there had been a grant from the Government to enable HBC to freeze Council Tax. This provided an increase to the Council’s revenue at no additional cost to the local CT payer.
Times have been hard of late and everyone is feeling the pinch from the increased cost of household bills and the general cost of living. So last year the local Labour and Conservative groups, against the wishes of the independent councillors, pushed through a 30% increase in their allowances.
This had the effect of increasing the bill for councillor’s allowances by an additional £74,500 to a total which exceeds £320,000pa. As it stands each Councillor is now entitled to a basic allowance of £7,792 pa plus expenses.
With additional allowances going to the following,
Committee Chairs and the Ceremonial Mayor receive an additional £7,792 giving a total of £15,584 plus expenses.
While the Neighbourhood chairs receive an extra £3,896, giving a total of £11,688 plus expenses.
The Chair of Finance and Policy receives an additional £23,376.00 giving a total of £31,168 plus expenses.
While this may have solved the problem of an increased cost of living for the senior elected members of the ruling labour group and their coalition partners in the conservative party, It raises the question of where the additional £74,500 is to come from. So this year the Conservative and Labour councillors voted for a 4.9% increase in the Council Tax.
The Independents voted against the increase citing the additional hardships which would be placed on hard working families in Hartlepool who are already struggling to cope with the increasing cost of living.
This did not seem to impress the local Labour group who evidently seem to think it is far better for you to give so that they may receive.
Under the leadership of Cllr Christopher Akers-Belcher, Council Tax has risen by 13.47% in four years.
While this may not sound a lot as a percentage, in real money it means the following increases:
Band A |
Band B |
Band C |
Band D |
Band E |
Band F |
Band G |
Band H |
£152.28 |
£177.67 |
£203.05 |
£228.42 |
£279.17 |
£329.94 |
£380.70 |
£456.84 |
Tags:
#Council tax
# councilors allowances
# labour
# conservative