HAMPSHIRE County Council has agreed a budget for 2007/08 that will increase council tax by 4.9 per cent, pushing average bills over £1,300. As councillors arrived at The Castle, Winchester, last Wednesday, February 21 to set the budget, a small band of Isitfair council tax protesters waved placards and heckled. Once inside, Isitfair leader, Christine Melsom, told councillors: "I am standing here this time with a feeling of certainty that there is a wide gulf between us – too wide and too deep to cross. You all like council tax. "I continue to hate it – as do very many thousands in every part of the country. This is not because we are against tax, but council tax has unfairness built into its fabric." Mrs Melsom went on to highlight the plight of those residents with the smallest incomes who were having to pay the highest percentage of their income in tax. She sad: "It is no disgrace to be poor and honest. Why should the poor be punished while the rich get off lightly?" And she challenged Hampshire County Council to move the problem of council tax further up the agenda. In setting this year's rate, council leader Ken Thornber, said: "The budget for 2007/08 is all about putting the council taxpayers' money where the need is greatest. "Adult social care is continuing to face increased demand due to an ageing population, and the advances in medical care leading to increasing numbers of people born with complex disabilities who now need care well into adulthood. "To help meet these pressures adult social care is to receive a cash increase of £11.4million (5.8 per cent) the highest increase of all service budgets, both in cash and percentage terms and continues the priority we have given to social care which has seen increases of 75 per cent in seven years." He continued: "Last year the council had to spend £43m on managing waste and needs to find extra resources for disposing of household waste in order to deal with increased waste volumes and planned higher landfill tax charges. "It is having to provide an additional £3m, which equates to an increase of 6.9 per cent to pay for its waste contract. "Children's services are to receive a cash increase of £0.9 million (1.5 per cent) for central support to schools and £2.9m (4.9 per cent) for social care. "In order to provide increased funding for these services, all other service areas are to share a cash increase of just £2.9m, which is a 2.0 per cent increase overall. "We have required every service to meet their own growth pressures from within their budget and this means a net redeployment of £21.4m. "What does this mean? It means that services have reordered their priorities, looked to modernise their services and sought cost effective solutions." Talking about the level of funding the county council receives from central government Mr Thornber said: "We exist to serve the needs of the people of Hampshire and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to do this with a reducing government grant and the capping of council tax increases at around five per cent. "Hampshire County Council receives in government grant, £96 per head of population, while the average for county councils is £160 per head. "This is a difference of £64 per head and is the second lowest grant in the country. Disappointingly, this low level government funding remains unchanged despite strong representations by the council. "In three years we have made efficiency savings of £45m and this year we are saving £21.4m which is being redeployed to spending pressures, including £3.6m in required savings and £15m in efficiency savings. "With government continually squeezing our funding and the potential grant loss of £38m over the next three-year funding period, the council continues to face severe pressures which savings alone will not be enough to meet." Mr Thornber ended with a pledge: "I shall continue to press government to fund local government, in particular social care, properly, but so far my pleas have been in vain. "A fraction of the 90 per cent increase in funding given to the NHS by this government, would solve the problem of social care and it is time that government recognised this fact. The people of this county deserve no less."
