Caerphilly Council agrees tax increase of 2.35% for 2013/14

Councillors have agreed to increase council tax by 2.35% from April 2013.

At a full meeting of Caerphilly County Borough Council on Wednesday, councillors agreed the local authority’s budget for the upcoming financial year.

The ruling Labour group has said the 2.35% rise – which sees an extra £21.06 a year for a Band D property – will protect council services.

Council leader Harry Andrews said: “We’re proud that, under our Labour leadership, Caerphilly Council is better placed to protect people’s essential services than many other Welsh local authorities. And we can honour our 2012 manifesto pledges of scrapping the Nationalists’ charges for bulk household waste collections and investing an extra £100,000 in youth services provision. Caerphilly’s council tax increase is less than the average Welsh councils’ rise of 2.83%, and will match the 2013/14 rise planned by the previous Plaid Cymru administration.”

Plaid has pointed to a council report revealing the cost of increasing the pay of the council’s top bosses and have claimed it could further push council taxes up in the coming years.

The costs have been revealed in a report to the council’s Policy and Resources committee following a request for the information from Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann – who called for Wednesday’s meeting to be adjourned and for a freeze on council tax.

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Mann said: “This compromise deal voted through by the Labour council will cost council taxpayers almost three per cent on their bills up to 2017. Around £550,000 of extra spending is equivalent to one per cent.

“The report suggests that there is no impact on council tax levels. Well, if that money had not been spent on top salaries it could have saved the equivalent of almost three per cent on bills up to 2017. Alternatively it could have been used for front line services.

“This is a huge price to pay and the residents of the county borough are picking up the tab for this totally unacceptable rise when council workers have had their pay frozen for three years and many people are struggling to keep a roof over their head.

“Despite waiving £27,000 the Chief Executive is still receiving a £100 extra a week rise which is huge compared to the increases – if any – most ordinary people can enjoy. This shambles shows how out of touch Labour is after less than a year in office.”

In the report, Nicole Scammell, head of corporate finance, also revealed that the council paid £11,000 in legal advice from lawyers Geldards and between £17,000 and £19,000 for audit work carried out by the accountants, PWC for the Wales Audit Office.

Ms Scammell said that the cost of the salary deal for 20 senior officers amounted to £357,000 a year. For the remaining four years of the current administration the cost would, therefore, be £1,428,000, even after the chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan agreed to reduce a pay rise from £27,000 a year to £5,000.

Labour’s deputy leader of council Keith Reynolds said: “In tough times, people know that Labour will protect the services that we all rely on

“But Plaid Cymru should be ashamed that, today, they called for a council tax freeze in 2013/14, yet were unable to tell anyone how they’d balance the books and make up the loss of £1.7 million.

“They couldn’t tell us which essential council services to the public they would cut. They couldn’t tell us how many council workers they’d have to sack if we had a council tax freeze. It’s disgraceful that they could expect our council to put jobs and services at risk without having a clue how they’d manage a council tax freeze. Typical of Plaid Cymru in Caerphilly: no sense, no feeling – so no freeze, thank you very much.”

As part of the agreed budget, the council will be spending £52 million on projects including:

• A major new £6m sporting centre of excellence in Ystrad Mynach
• New £5million multiplex cinema development in Bargoed
• A new Library and Customer Service Centre in Caerphilly
• £74million improving homes under the Welsh Housing Quality Standards
• Ongoing refurbishment works at Blackwood Miners’ Institute
• £900,000 towards major flood alleviation works in Risca

Council tax rates for 2013/14 – including community council charge and Gwent Police charge