Published: 10 February, 2014
by RICHARD OSLEY

THE Greens have called for a local referendum on council tax after becoming the first party to suggest it should be raised in this year’s Town Hall budget.

The three main parties insist that bills should be frozen where possible and that adding extra demands will hit the worst off.

But the Greens, who have only one councillor at the Town Hall and are facing make-or-break council elections in May, say services could be protected with a minimal rise.

Councillor Maya De Souza said £1 a week extra from everybody would add a vital level of protection against public service cuts. Her party’s idea for a referendum would ask residents to consider a 4.75 per cent rise in council tax, providing an extra £3million in revenue.

She said: “I am very disappointed that cabinet members haven’t even considered standing up to an eighth year of Tory-Lib Dem cuts in Camden. 

“We believe that the people of Camden, faced with the consequences of continued cuts to social care, community centres, nurseries and libraries they rely on every day, would choose to pay an average £1 extra per week to prevent further damage to these services and our community. 

“We believe that this question should be put to people in Camden at the same time as the elections in May to minimise costs, which officers have estimated at around £33,000.”

But the idea was instantly pooh-poohed by the larger parties at the Town Hall, all of which have geared their budget plans over several years to council tax freezes.

Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said: “Council tax has been frozen for all four years of this administration, saving the average household at least £114 a year. 

“As people are dealing with higher Tube, energy, water and broadband bills, council tax is the only bill which hasn’t gone up for residents in recent years. Council tax hits lower and middle-earners harder, so their proposal is regressive.”

He said that the Greens had not explained what cuts they were seeking to stave off. Labour had no plans to slash services, Cllr Blackwell added.

Lib Dem leader of the Opposition Councillor Keith Moffitt described the referendum idea as a “gimmick”, adding: “We would be looking at back-office savings that can be made at the Town Hall – not making life more difficult for our residents. We have to look at how the council can be more efficient before asking residents for more money.”

Conservative finance spokesman Councillor Don Williams said: “I don’t think we should be making more demands on our hard-pressed citizens. Instead, we should be looking at more creative ways of bringing in revenue.”

In a forum article for the New Journal published today, Cllr Williams says Camden should stop investing energy in a chase for a higher empty homes tax and concentrate on pulling in revenue from marketing streams. 

He said hoardings on empty council buildings would be one way of levering in big money. 

That too has been dismissed as a gimmick by the Lib Dems, while Cllr Blackwell added: “I don’t know why Don’s broken out the violins for those gaining most from the property bubble.”  

He added: “The levy on empty homes is not a real revenue raiser but a small measure to combat long-term furnished empties.”