LIB DEMS SET LOW COUNCIL TAX

3.00.00pm GMT Wed 21st Feb 2007

The Liberal Democrats set a council tax of 3.9% at their Full Council meeting today, one of the lowest of all the counties without responsibility for their Fire Service. This means a Band D property will pay £963.39

It was pointed out that Durham County Council, in the Prime Minister's constituency, receive extra government funding of £120.16 per head of population. In fact they receive even more when including the schools' grant, i.e. £180 per person!

The Conservatives still insist that the Liberal Democrat administration should abandon the Community Budgets, which will be raised to meet even more objectives with the roll-out of locality working. This has been extremely popular with a wide range of community groups who make good use of the money which comes through quickly and without any red tape. The Conservatives vowed to abolish this should they ever return to power on the Council.

Councillor Jill Shortland, who delivered the budget statement, commented afterwards:

"We commend the hard work of officers, who poured over the budget figures with the Executive members and managed to 'balance the books' even earlier than usual. We're especially proud that whilst making the necessary savings, our services haven't suffered and are judged to be improving year on year."

ENDS