No Council Tax rises this year but at a price
Richmond Council have announced their yearly budgets and included a happy note that council tax will not increase this year to “help residents through the financial crisis” – also apparently taking heed from a pre-Christmas consultation that showed that any rises would prove very unpopular in the current economic climate.
The announcement also comes at a time where the government is making it clear that the public sector deficit needs to be cut and large cost savings will need to made in the future. Richmond Council have already considered areas to save money – £600,000 from consolidating office spaces and potentially cutting hundreds of “non front-line” jobs to save as much as £10-£13 million over the next two to three years. Country-wide there seem to be growing indicators that huge Council cuts are on the way.
According to MP Vince Cable there are also “panic job cuts” on the cards at the NPL – adding to the general spending clamp-down planned by the Government.
