Budget: Green & Lib Dem Councillors deliver above inflation price rises and the highest Council Tax in Kent

So the Greens have set their first budget, with the help of the Lib Dems. The vote to implement their budget on Wednesday 28 February 2024, at Full Council was:

13 For (Greens & Lib Dems),

5 Against (Tories & 1 Independent)

10 abstentions (Labour & 1 Independent)

It’s a budget which sees residents have to pay the highest council tax in Kent for the 21st year in a row. And it’s done with eyewatering above inflation price rises for services provided by the Council to households and businesses.

The council if you do not know, offer a service to the public to remove bulky items – fridges, sofas etc. In 2023/24, this is for one item only and costs £35. In 2024/25, it will be for three items, but the price will rise to £53, an increase of of 51.4%,, or ten times the rate of inflation (RPI @ 4.9%). This may well see fly-tipping increase in areas when nobody wants it.

The cost of Boot Fairs on Council land will rise from £290 in 2023/24, to £375.60 in 2024/25. This is a 30% increase; or six times the rate of inflation. This will impact charities like Folkestone Lions who hire Radnor Park during the summer.

Let’s take Garden Waste, which is rising from £48 in 2023/24, to £60 in 2024/25, a 25% increase, five times the rate of inflation.

Parking permits in Controlled Parking Zones allowing you to park outside or near your home, will rise from £38.30 in 2023/24, to £42 in 2024/25, a rise of 9.66%, so almost double the current inflation rate.

Then there is the cost of Radar Keys, used by the disabled to access toilets across the district, the cost of a key will rise by 9.25%.

In 2023/24, the cost to play football on a Council owned pitched stands at £93 to use the pitch and changing facilities. In 2024/25,it will cost £100.30 to use the same pitch and changing facilities. This is a rise of 8% when inflation (RPI) is running at 4.9%.

But it is not just football where the Greens and Lib Dems have forced the public to pay more.

Costs to park in the district Car Parks are rising too, treating motorists once again as cash cows.

These above inflation rises all add up, especially during a cost of living crisis. They will hit those on low incomes disproportionately, regardless if they are in work and not in receipts of benefits of any type.  And we know households who earn up to £45,000 are also affected.

Then lets not forget, our Council Tax for 2024/25, under a Green & Lib Dem council will be the highest of any Council in Kent. This means for the last 21 years, residents of the district have had the highest council tax in Kent, and yet our new, Green leader, Cllr Jim Martin, cannot say what we get for our money.

Council tax hits the poorest hardest and the wealthiest least. The official statistics make clear, even after rebates, the bottom 10% households pay more than 8% of their disposable incomes, while the top 10% chip in less than 2%. So the least well off hand over a grand a year for council services out of their take-home pay, which, using the government’s spending data, is likely to leave them with just £236 a week to pay for food, light and heating

Moving on, there were solutions and alternatives to what the Lib Dems & Greens have given us. 

During this cost of living crisis our elected Cllrs could have chosen to use the reserves in some areas, tis would have reduced the financial pain households will feel financially in 2024/25.

CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants) say:

For local government, at its very simplest, a balanced budget means that the council is content that the combination of income, the sensible use of reserves and having robust savings plans in place means that underlying income will cover on-going costs and future commitments in a sustainable and manageable way.

For those of you who are worried about the use of the reserves to hold down prices until inflation falls, you shouldn’t worry yourself too much.

According to the latest published Statement of Accounts for our Council, 22/23, the usable reserves stood at £43.3m. So using a couple of million to hold prices down, while inflation falls, would not have put the Council in jeopardy of a s114 bankruptcy notice.

It would have shown that they cared for the people who elected them, rather than treat them as cash cows.

Cllr Prater and his Green colleagues can say a thousand times we are where we are at because of Tory profligacy. However, that statement doesn’t add up as the usable reserves are in a healthy state of affairs, as the graph below shows.

There has never been a chance of our council issuing a s114 notice  (a bankruptcy notice) and having to seek help from Central Government.

Cllr Prater has said

We’ll have *no* deficit next year, secure *all* key services, and have a strong position from which to rebuild.

And the rebuild will be from your money, as he, and 12 of his colleagues, who voted for this budget, are taking it from you and your families financial budget, whether you like it or not. And that is during a cost of living crisis when other solutions were available. 

This budget was not about levelling up. This budget will see inequality grow across the district, and in 2024/25, the only people responsible for this budget are the elected Green and Lib Dem Cllrs sitting on Folkestone & Hythe District Council.

The Shepway Vox Team

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