Hammersmith & Fulham to Cut Tax

Council claim bills will fall as frontline services improve

Hammersmith & Fulham residents are set to see their council tax bills go down for the first time in over a decade. The council is proposing a 3 per cent council tax cut which is expected to be the biggest council tax drop in London.This comes at a time when most other boroughs in the country are expecting to see an increase.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Hammersmith & Fulham Council leader, said of his administration's first budget, "This is the first budget since the May 2006 election and we are combining lower tax with more cash for things that matter to residents. The council is pumping in £1.5million over two years to pay for round the clock beat policing in our town centres as well as spending more on schools and providing free homecare for our most vulnerable residents."

The decrease will bring Council Tax levels back to what the were in 2004 and Cllr. Greenhalgh is claiming that this meets his party's manifesto commitment of lower tax bills combined with improved front line services. He said, "That's got to be great news for everyone, particularly for our pensioners and those on low incomes."

The Conservatives say that they have managed to deliver a tax cut by cutting waste and bureaucracy and looking to the market to see if services can be provided more efficiently. They deny being ideologically wedded to privatisation but they want in-house services to be forced to compete with private contractors.

Savings in the budget are put at £14.5million and include reductions in cost due to contracting out home care, sharing services with neighbouring boroughs and improving working practices. £5 million has been taken out of the budget by reducing bureaucracy, staff and office costs including cutting political advisers and policy officers. Another £3million saving is budgeted due to getting better value for money from suppliers and from using new IT systems to cut costs.

On the income side there is a budgeted increase due to increased parking revenue, events and advertising sales.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance says,"Council tax has doubled in ten years and some people now think annual increases are inevitable. So it's good news for taxpayers in Hammersmith & Fulham that the council is leading the way with a good cut that will start giving pensioners and hardworking families more of their own money to spend on their own priorities. We hope this starts a trend across London."

The bills that local residents pay will not actually be 3% lower as the GLA Precept charged for services provided by the Mayor is expected to rise by 5% The Council points out that this comes on top of significant rises in public transport charges.

The budget report, which proposes the tax cuts, will be examined in a series of public scrutiny meetings early in the New Year before going to full council for final approval on February 28.

January 8, 2007