The Labour group on Caerphilly County Borough Council has hit back at rivals Plaid Cymru in a row over council tax rises.
On October 14, Labour’s ruling Cabinet of councillors approved a proposed council tax increase of 3.9% for 2016/17 – as well as cuts of £12.4 million.
The councillors also approved provisional plans to increase council tax by a further 3.9% for 2017/18 and again by 3.9% for 2018/19.
Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann criticised the plan and claimed that Labour had increased council tax for a Band D property by almost £100 since coming to power in 2012.
Labour’s council leader Keith Reynolds responded: “Cllr Mann’s criticisms, like his maths, just don’t add up. In fact, Caerphilly Council’s Band D council tax rate has increased by just £25 a year in each of the last three years – a total of £75 – or 75% of what Cllr Mann has claimed.
“So the actual increase amounts to just 50p a week – less than the price of a packet of crisps.
“Our council’s leadership believes that’s fair, reasonable and necessary to protect essential social services for our most vulnerable elderly and young people.”
Labour group spokesman Cllr Gez Kirby added: “Yet again, Cllr Mann is being economical with the truth. When Plaid Cymru controlled Caerphilly Council in 2008/12, councils weren’t confronted by the Westminster Tory government budget cuts that are hitting us so hard now.”
However, Caerphilly Observer has double-checked the council tax rates for the last three years in a bid to set the record straight.
In 2012/13, the year before Labour gained control of the council, the rate for a Band D property was £897.84.
By 2015/16, this had risen to £992.02 – an increase of £94.18.
Cllr Mann said: “Keith Reynolds and his Labour colleagues really need to buy an abacus to help them add correctly. This blunder shows Labour is not fit to hold office when they can’t even work out simple sums.
“They need to be honest with the public and stop pretending that they’ve not hiked council tax by almost £100 since they gained office. And they are planning further big rises over the next three years.
“How on earth can the council ?taxpayers of the borough have any confidence in Labour when they behave in this way? They need to deal in facts not fairy stories.”
Don’t call em Liebour for nothing.
The real issue is that neither Keith Reynolds nor Colin Mann presented accurate figures. Both demonstrated their mathematical incompetencies while trying to score petty political points and ignoring the obvious fact they Labour and Plaid lack any vision or plan for Caerphilly.