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COUNCIL TAX RATE INCREASE
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Council tax bills are rising to pay for a
growing army of fatcat pen-pushers earning more than
£50,000 a year. Figures show there are now 30,000 middle
managers in town halls across Britain receiving almost
double the average national wage. They are costing their
councils about £4million a year, equivalent to over £20
for every household. Local authorities insist that their
staff are highly skilled and that taxpayers are getting
value for money but the total annual wage bill for the
fatcats now stands at £2billion, up from only
£207million when Labour came to power a decade ago.
The TaxPayers Alliance figures reveal that local
authorities across the UK are now employing an average of
66 middle-ranking managers on lucrative packages worth
more than £50,000 a year. Figures taken from
councils annual records showed that officials
getting deals worth £50,000 or more, including bonuses
and benefits but not pension contributions, rose from an
estimated 3,341 in 1996-7 to 30,889 in 2006-7.
John Ransford, deputy chief executive of the Local
Government Association which represents more than 400
councils in England and Wales, trotted out that old
chestnut, "To attract the best and brightest people
to deliver value for money, you have to pay a suitable
wage. Councils are responsible for ensuring that more
than £100billion of taxpayers money is spent
wisely and provides the services local people want and
need." (Source: Daily Express, Jan/08)
Council
tax is set to rise by 5% for each of the next three
years. This means people in Band A properties are set to
pay more than £800 after Derby City Council announced
its budget plans. Despite the rise the council still
needs to find an extra £6.7m to run its services in
2007-8. It plans to cut its budget by 10% by April 2010,
starting next year when it proposes £5m of savings. Job
cuts, axing grants to organisations, increasing the cost
of meals on wheels and charges at day centres, and
raising ticket prices at the Assembly Rooms and the
Guildhall are among the proposals to gain more money.
Council leader Chris Williamson said, "We do have
that gap that needs to be filled but that's why we're
consulting. It may be that there are planned spends in
the document which people do not think are necessary or
it may be that there are savings to be made elsewhere.
There is a cost to all of this, but it's a price worth
paying."
The extra costs the council plans to take on include
paying for job evaluations to ensure fairness of pay as a
result of the Equal Pay Act. This has forced councils to
arrange settlements for workers in roles predominantly
held by women, like cooks and cleaners, who have been
paid less than men in jobs deemed to require equal levels
of skill, like refuse collectors. Another £2.5m has been
put aside to spend on development projects, such as
planned improvements to the Market Place, the Sir Peter
Hilton Gardens, The Spot and Osnabruck Square, as well as
the proposal to create new civic offices for the
authority. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jan/07)
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