Agenda item

I have noticed that at least one Opposition member on this Council has recently been trying to manufacture the myth that this Council, under this Government, is raising council tax unreasonably.

With my solid belief that the facts show the true picture, may I ask the Portfolio Holder to place on the public record of this meeting a table of each year's Band D Council Tax from when the Conservatives took over the council's administration, along with the percentage increase from the previous year, and noting, for each year, which party was running the national government at the time?

For comparison it would be useful to have the national figures as well to show the value enjoyed by Medway's residents.

Councillor Jarrett informed John Ward that the table that he had asked for was being circulated around the room.

He explained that the information required in terms of column 2 set out the Medway increase year by year since 2001-2 when the Conservatives formed this administration until the current year and there had been many years of successful Conservative administration in Medway.

In column 4 there were the all England percentage increases and in column 6 there were the Unitary percentage increases. He stated that Medway’s increases were not entirely dissimilar either to the all England increase or the Unitary increase.

He stated that during some of those years some of the increases were quite substantial, not just in Medway, but across the country and he believed they reflected the activities of the national government in terms the number of new burdens that were forced upon Medway Council without the compensating funding and that was reflected across the country.

He stated that since the coalition government had been formed in 2010, rather than council tax going up excessively in the last two years, it had actually gone up by 0.2% which was a matter of rounding, not a real increase. The reason for that was because the coalition government had worked hard to help to compensate local authorities at least in part for forgoing council tax rises. He stated he did not know if that trend would continue but the Council was committed to the lowest level of council tax rise, consistent with maintaining the high standard of service delivery.

He noted Medway’s relative position with other Councils across the country:

• 2007/08 – second lowest council tax out of 46 unitary councils;
• 2008/09 – third lowest council tax out of 46 unitary councils;
• 2009/10 – sixth lowest council tax out of 55 unitary councils;
• 2010/11 and 2011/12 – seventh lowest council tax out of 55 unitary councils.

He stated that this clearly showed that Medway Council was doing all it could to provide the lowest rates of council tax. The comparison with the national picture did not quite bear out in terms of the position when comparing Medway with council tax charging authorities in Kent because the Council was something in the region of £130 cheaper than anywhere else in Kent.

He also stated that the Council’s standard of service delivery was amongst the best in the land and all impartial measures demonstrated either through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) or the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) process, showed this. Medway Council, as per the findings of the external audit, gave excellent value for money and the Council would continue to do so. He stated that Medway Council was low in terms of council tax charging and was high in terms of giving value for money. He hoped that these facts would remain in the public domain.

Band D charge increase with Parishes: