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Croydon Council reveals lowest ever council tax rise
Published: 2010-02-18 09:21:13
Croydon Council has announced its lowest ever council tax rise - but will cut spending by more than £17m to fund it. (Sourced from the Croydon Guardian.)
The 0.8 per cent rise means residents in a Band D property will pay £1459.93 a year from April, £12.22 more than for the last financial year.
Council leader Mike Fisher said council tax could have been slashed but for a £5 million gap in central government funding for asylum seekers, housing benefits and concessionary travel fares.
Departments were told to cut spending by 4 per cent through 'efficiency savings' but managed to shave off an average of more than 6 per cent to drop their budgets by £15.9 million in addition to £1.7 million of actual cuts.
The council will spend almost £150 million on capital expenditure projects as part of a changing emphasis from short-term fixes to long-term solutions.
This includes £10 million set aside for modernising the dilapidated Fairfield Halls, £30 million on large scale repairs of highways and £22 million to cope with the surge in demand for primary school places. Major projects planned include the £11 million Waddon leisure centre regeneration and £27 million building and refurbishing council houses.
To read the full story click here.