Low-rise council tax "means Birmingham people are better off"

Four years of below inflation council tax increases have left the people of Birmingham £58 million better off, it was claimed last night.

The figure represents the additional amount of money that householders would have had to find if bills had risen in line with the average for English local authorities, city council leader Mike Whitby insisted.

Presenting his annual budget speech to the full city council, Coun Whitby said the fourth successive 1.9 per cent increase underlined the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition’s commitment to “easing the tax burden in difficult economic times while delivering ever improving front line services”.

Average Band D council tax payers will only have to find an additional 39p a week, a figure that Coun Whitby said would be welcomed by those on pensions and low income families.

He said the coalition had managed through rigorous cost control to deliver one of the lowest council tax increases anywhere in the country, while still managing to pump an additional £21.8 million into frontline services.

The extra money also includes £5.5 million to protect the NEC Group from the impact of the downturn.

Coun Whitby said: “Birmingham is once again demonstrating how excellent and improving services can be delivered without excessively burdening the taxpayers. We continue to set the standard for service improvement and good fiscal discipline.”

Despite difficulties caused by the recession, Birmingham’s international reputation was at an all-time high with foreign inward investors showing keen interest in funding major city centre regeneration projects, he insisted.

“We are marching forward on our road to excellence,” Coun Whitby added.

The budget was denounced as a “con trick” by opposition Labour leader Sir Albert Bore.

He said the 1.9 per cent rise would be funded by cuts in services and redundancies among council staff.

Sir Albert (Lab, Ladywood) accused the coalition of using “smoke and mirrors” to pretend that services were receiving more money.

He pointed out that an additional £6.7 million for adult social services would be all but wiped out by £6 million of efficiency savings ordered by Coun Whitby.

Challenging the council leader to subject his budget to comprehensive scrutiny committee examination, Sir Albert said: “You claim to be a magician pulling a rabbit from the hat when in fact this is all about cuts to services. It is a con to pretend this budget is about service improvement.”