Isle of Wight councillor Geoff Lumley (Lab) will be proposing an amendment to the Independent-led council’s budget papers at Wednesday’s full council meeting.
At a recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Lumley raised the subject of increasing council tax by 1.99% to offset some of the cuts imposed by government.
The suggestion of an amendment to the currently proposed council tax freeze was welcomed by the leader and deputy leader.
Cllr Lumley proposes,
“THAT Full Council agrees to increase Council Tax for 2014/15 by 1.99%, the proceeds of which increase (circa £500,000 plus) will be used for reducing some of the savings (as set out in Paper E, Appendix 6 to this agenda item) that have the most unacceptable impacts on hard working families.
For example and to be removed specifically, retention of school crossing patrols (£46k forecast savings), retention of beach safety equipment (£20k savings), all year delay (minimum) in pedestrian charges on the Cowes chain ferry (£100k savings), abandoning charges for children to swim in school holidays (£30k savings).”
Image: Ron Saunders 47 under CC BY 2.0
