Brighton and Hove councillors have settled on a budget for the year ahead, defeating the ruling Green Party’s planned 4.75% council tax rise.
Council leader Jason Kitcat blasted the ‘short-termist politicking’ of Labour and Conservative councillors, after members agreed on a 1.99% rise in local levies last night.
Local Labour councillors hailed the agreed budget as a ‘victory for common sense’.
The Green Party proposed a 4.75% rise in January, yet no agreement could be made on the budget at council meetings last month.
The town hall had until 11 March to come to a decision before budgets could have been imposed by communities secretary Eric Pickles.
Mr Kitcat said: ‘It became clear over the last week that Tory councillors were recklessly determined to block the budget-setting, which would have allowed Eric Pickles to come in and slash council services.
‘We worked on what cross-party agreement could be found, held our noses, and did what was required to keep Pickles out. It was the responsible thing to do.’
Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, Warren Morgan, said: ‘We have set a sensible, inflation-linked council tax increase, avoided a referendum costing £900,000 and a tax freeze costing £800,000.’
Speaking to LocalGov, Conservative Group leader, Geoffrey Theobald, said: ‘I am disappointed for the residents of Brighton and Hove who now have a council tax increase for the sake of 0.1% of the budget. We showed in our council tax freeze budget how we could not only freeze council tax but also reverse and help some other issues.
‘We have said from day one that we wanted a freeze budget. We have been consistent all the way through,’ he added. ‘It is absurd and quite a cheek for anybody to say that we were blocking the budget. The fact is that they should have joined with us for a council tax freeze.’
