Green Party Proposes Budget To End Council Cuts
Bristol Green Party has today published an Alternative Budget Proposal which would avoid future cuts in council services. This would be achieved by a modest increase in Council Tax of 3.49%.
Such an increase would mean the surrender of a financial inducement offered by the Coalition Government in exchange for a freezing of Council Tax. The Greens believe that the acceptance of this 'bribe' is a false economy, exchanging a guaranteed income stream for a one off payment. The Government have indicated that this payment of £4.5M, equivalent to a 2.5% increase in Council Tax, will not be repeated.
By protecting Bristol's tax base, the Council would be better able to determine it's own longer-term strategy, instead of having it's priorities dictated by Government sticks and carrots. The proposed increase would produce £1.8M in 2012/13, rising to £6.3M in 2013/14 and subsequent years.
Tess Green, Leader of the Green Group on Bristol City Council, said:
"This is a bold statement of what the Green Party would do if we were in control of Bristol City Council."
"It exposes the Lib Dem administration's timid acceptance of Government cuts. An increase in Council Tax of 3.49%, well below the level of inflation, would put £1.8m back into this year's budget and produce £6.3m in each future year. The cost to the average household would be 90p per week, and for this small sum we could preserve front-line services for the most vulnerable in our city."
"The recent performance of Bristol City Council has been unfavourably compared with that of Nottingham, and it is interesting to note that Nottingham is one of the authorities preparing to ignore the Government bribe and introduce a similar Council Tax increase to the one we propose."
Gus Hoyt, Green Councillor for Ashley Ward added:
"Now is not the time to try and win a Council Tax popularity contest. Cameron, Osborne and Pickles are bribing Councils to freeze their taxes - with 5% inflation this is just the same as another cut"
"We have prepared an alternative budget to illustrate how we would do things differently in Bristol. To just roll over and accept the cuts will damage the city. We are proposing alternative ways to not only protect essential services, but to invest more into them"
In contrast to the Lib Dem portfolio of cuts, The Green Party proposes to spend the £1.8m that would be available in 2012/13 on defending and enhancing current youth facilities, re-instating The Futures Job Fund, installing new play areas, and providing free bus fares for 16 to18 year olds whose families are in receipt of benefit. It also ensures that funds are available to preserve support services for vulnerable women escaping exploitation, and restores some of the funding removed from the Malcolm X Centre.
A separate amendment calls for an improved evening and weekend service on the Severn Beach Line between Avonmouth and Temple Meads. The subsidy necessary to achieve this would be fully funded by the introduction of a £1 parking fee at Blaise Estate, similar to that proposed by the Lib Dems for Ashton Court.
Cllr. Green commented:
"With all parties on the Council expressing support for the idea of a Bristol Metro, we hope that this is an amendment that will find support."
Full details of the Green Party proposals can be found in the document below:
Green Party Budget Proposal 2012 (