STAFF COSTS SOAR BY £10M AT COUNTY HALL (23/02/06)

Conservatives oppose 5% Council Tax increase at Somerset County Council.

As the ruling Liberal Democrats, supported by Labour, announced their budget and a council tax increase of 5%, which is amongst the highest in the country, the Conservatives opposed the rise and offered to help control staff increases in order to keep Council Tax lower in the future.

The Conservatives were concerned about the impact on Pensioners, those relying on social service support and parents of pupils using school transport.

Whilst the Conservatives acknowledged that the Government have failed to fund some additional responsibilities, they do not consider that Somerset residents will accept that the Liberal Democrats are powerless to address spiralling Council Tax.

David Huxtable, Conservative Finance Spokesman, said “We will continue to work with the Liberal Democrats to get more Government money into Somerset. However, I’m quite sure the Council Tax payers are tired of the same excuse every year. They rightly want solutions not excuses.”

“We want to make a real, positive difference. Therefore, instead of getting involved in a slanging match with the Lib Dems over service cuts and council tax rises, we have offered to help them get a grip on the staff numbers at County Hall. We believe that this will be the single most effective action in the efforts to keep Council Tax low.”

“Staff numbers have gone up by 422 compared to the same time last year. That is enough staff to operate some District Councils in this country. This has cost £10.5 million, which, perhaps not coincidentally, is the amount that the Council was struggling to find this year to maintain services.”

“The Conservatives have offered to undertake rigorous scrutiny of any proposed increases in staffing to really root out whether they are absolutely necessary or not.”

David Huxtable told the Liberal Democrats, “We do not agree with your budget. If we can control the costs of this authority we believe that a lot of your savage cuts can be avoided."

Unfortunately the Liberal Democrats rejected the Conservatives offer, saying it would be “too time consuming”. They also dismissed the staff increases as “mythical” – despite the figures being official Council statistics.

David Heathcoat-Amory, MP for Wells, said “There is no need for the County Council to have taken on so many additional staff last year. Now they are asking the long suffering Council Tax payer to pick up the bill.”

Mark Formosa, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Taunton commented "Having been present at the Borough Council meeting here in Taunton last night, I was amazed to see the same Lib Dems who called for a cut in Council tax then do the exact opposite and vote for an inflation busting increase of 5 per cent the very next morning at County Hall!"

"The people of Somerset are paying more and getting less from the County Council - the reduced quality of special needs education under the banner of inclusion is an example of this."

Ends

Notes for Editors:

1 As expected, the Liberal Democrat Administration at Somerset County Council has decided to raise Council Tax by 5% to £986 on a Band D property, an increase of £47. It is generally agreed that the Government would not have allowed the rise to be any steeper.

2 Official figures produced by Somerset County Council show that, when comparing January 2005 to January 2006, the Council employs 422 more Full Time Equivalent staff.

3 At an estimate of £25,000 per Full Time Equivalent (including salary, pension contributions, office costs etc), an increase of 422 Full Time Equivalents would cost £10,550,000.

4 Sam Crabb, Liberal Democrat Portfolio-Holder for Resources, said that the Conservative proposal to rigorously control staff increases would be “Too time consuming” at a meeting of the County Council on 22 February 2006.

5 Alan Paul, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Taunton West, described the staff increases as “mythical” at the same meeting, despite the fact that the figures are official Somerset County Council information.

6 For further information or comment, please contact David Huxtable, Finance Spokesman for the Conservative Group at Somerset County Council, on 01278 723120