News from Croydon Labour

Croydon Tories put Council Tax up by £136.78

Croydon’s Council Tax now stands at a record high having gone up a whopping 13.5% in four years, which is £136.78 per Band D household. A lot more for many Croydon households not in the standard ‘D’ Council Tax Band.

The ‘low rise’ for 2010 is a headline 0.8% but this is simply spin, because the Tory Council has in fact put up its tax by 1.07% for 2010. It gets down to 0.8% by including the Council Tax for running the GLA / police and fire service. The Tory Council finds it really very hard to be honest with its tax payer residents.

Croydon Labour opposition leader Tony Newman said:

“Labour Councillors have demanded a Tax Freeze. We have identified a number of areas where money can be saved. These include reducing the spend on overpaid consultants, the expensive ‘free’ Council newspaper and £450 million being spent by the Tory Council on building their new luxury Council HQ. It is a disgrace.

On May 6th we will have the opportunity to turf the Town Hall Tories out, because everyone is sick of their cuts and tax rises.”

Every Labour controlled Council in London has frozen their council tax in 2010.

Croydon Tories took Control of Croydon Council in May 2006. They then embarked on a programme of cuts and a highly controversial programme to build a luxury council HQ, a Conservative Councillor even joked that it was a ‘Council Tax Hub’. To pay for this luxury, the Conservative Council has put up local taxes by 13.5% over the four years.