08/02/08 - Swindon Council Tax, Headlines

Swindon Conservatives are proposing a Council Tax rise of 3.5% for the financial year 2008/09, once again inline with inflation.

There is an extra £10m for improving front line services, and a further £7m has been taken out of Council budgets by improving efficiency.

The Council has also continued to improve, from 0 star rating when Labour were in charge, to 2 stars under the Conservatives.

The average Unitary Authority received a 5.1% increase in Government settlement, whilst Swindon once again was short changed with just 2%, not even enough to cover inflation.  In real terms this means we had to either raise additional money, or create additional effeciency savings to simply stay still.

Year on year we are short changed by the Labour Government, if we received the average settlement we would have a staggering £21 million extra.  (Remember every 1% on Council Tax is £750 000) - shame on Labour.

Since the Conservatives took control of Swindon Council in 2004, we have set Council Tax rises inline with inflation with an average just over 3.5%.  In contrast the former Labour Council on average hiked Council Tax by just under 11% per year, therefore if they had still been running Swindon Council today, an average Council Tax bill would be a staggering £383 higher!!!

Local residents simply can not afford to vote for Labour!

Cllr Justin Tomlinson, "We will continue to do everything we can to keep Council Tax down."