Thursday 14 January 2016

VOTE ON WHETHER BRENT COUNCIL SHOULD INCREASE COUNCIL TAX

Please see the side panel to take part in this poll.

You can add a reason for your vote as a comment below this posting.

2 comments:

Pete Firmin said...

Haven't voted because I'm not mad keen on any of the options as represented by a simple yes/no vote. What I want to see from Brent Council is any attempt to mobilise a campaign together with service users, trades unionists, other Councils etc. against the cuts in funding. There is absolutely no sign of that happening, despite claims over the years that it would. Instead, a rise in Council tax, at whatever level and with whatever protections, looks like just the latest attempt to avoid such a campaign and pass on the cost to residents. It is a managerial solution, just as making the cuts was/is seen as a managerial issue. If raising the Council tax was part of buying time while building such a campaign, I might be persuaded to go along with it, but there is no sign of that being the approach.
As ever, I would also point out that throughout the years of Council tax freeze, Council rents have risen steadily. Those who would claim that the Council has protected residents financially through a freeze in the Council tax are either naïve or hypocrites.

Alison Hopkins said...

Not just rents, Pete. BHP has raised service charges massively too, in both cases well over inflation levels. And the sheer incompetence of how the Civic Centre is managed is mind boggling.