Harrow Council Tax to increase by two per cent

4:04pm Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News By Emma Innes

Harrow Borough Council has announced that it plans to raise its share of council tax by two per cent.

The authority announced today that its council tax for the 12 months from April will be two per cent higher than it is this financial year.

The decision has been made because the council has to find an extra £24million over the next two years.

The council says the situation in Harrow is worse than in other boroughs as the council has been allocated one of the lowest government grants of any local authority in the capital. Harrow receives £1,608 per resident whereas Brent gets £3,317 per person.

For Band D Council Tax payers the increase in their bill will work out at an extra 47p per week, or £23.97 a year.

Cllr Sachin Shah, portfolio holder for finance, said: “I didn’t come into politics to put up council tax and make cuts but that is the situation we have been put in by the Government.

“We have made this decision with a heavy heart and I appreciate that it is not going to please everyone.

“However, we are an outer London borough with inner London problems yet we have received half the amount of Government support as our neighbours in Brent.

“The unprecedented financial situation we are facing is not of our making and we have been faced with no other choice than to raise council tax by two per cent.

“The alternative is to make even deeper and more painful cuts to the services we know residents care about most.

“By April 2015, this council will have found savings of £75m and we are expecting to have to find a further £30m over the two years after that. By raising council tax now we are helping to protect services in the future.”

Jill Harrison, chief executive of Harrow Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) said: “These are very challenging times for local councils. CAB sees very many people who are already in financial difficulties and will struggle to pay more council tax. 

“On the other hand, we are also seeing many very vulnerable older and disabled people who are completely dependent on the availability of vital council services like home care which are partly funded through the council tax.

“The council has to balance the need to keep any council tax increases as low as possible, whilst still protecting key front line services for local people most in need.”

Comments(16)

HarrowRes says...
6:23pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Firstly, why do Brent get more than us and secondly perhaps Sachin Shah should remember why the Government has no money to give out - the last Labour Government spent it all (and billions they didn't have which the present Government are trying to repay).
I guess the Mayoral car will be going then ?

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Harrow Rani says...
10:02am Wed 16 Jan 13

Why 2% and why did we get less than Brent. Is is possibile that like the last fiasco over schools that our beloved Council cocked up their figures again and simply either undercalculated our needs or missed the deadline. They are good at that. Is it not for our council to make the appropriate arguments for a fairer grant tin line with Brent to reflect the needs of our Borough?
And yes, the council itself should show they understand austerity and cut back on thier own expenses and save us money.

The next council election cannot come soon enough for me.

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starbright says...
2:11pm Wed 16 Jan 13

They have increased it by the maximum of 2% as set out by the communities secretary Eric Pickles. Any increase above that would result in a local referendum of which Harrow Council would have wanted to avoid at all costs! Harrow have a decrease in this years settlement of 1.5% (although they are stating 1.8%?), compared to other Councils who have seen up to 8.8% sliced from their budgets! All councils were told that they have a 'moral obligation to freeze council tax again', and if they did they would get a 1% rebate back from the govt for doing so! As you can see compared to other boroughs we have not taken as much of a hit. Harrow Rani you could be right in your assumptions, Harrow did get it wrong hugely over the govt grant for school expansion, the only borough in London who got their figures wrong! Consequently Brent got 31 million to expand their schools, we originally got nothing until Bob blackman stepped in and then we received 2.6 million? Considering Harrow have now admitted that it will cost 26 million to expand our schools, maybe this is another reason why they are shafting us by putting up Council Tax? I agree maybe Harrow got the figures wrong again and that is why we got less per head in this Borough? Whichever, surely the sensible thing to have done is to ask and challenge the govt now, await the response and then decide whether to hike our council tax or not!

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Harrow Rani says...
2:30pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Starbright,as usual you appear to have done your homework. Thank you for your informative post. Unfortunately, if Harrow Council have cocked up their figures ( or
should that be cooked?) , you can guarantee that the taxpayer will be the last to know.. The fact that the council has not challenged the decision to award Harrow less than Brent, already smacks of incomptence somewhere along the line.

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Roadstar says...
9:38pm Thu 17 Jan 13

If the increase happens, I am going to cancel paying my council tax payments. We get no service for what we pay for now. Dirty streets, hardly any street cleaning people, no gritters on my road, policing in shambles; the list can go on and on. They want more money?? Jog on...

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Harrow Rani says...
10:28am Fri 18 Jan 13

Roadstar trust me when I say that they will chuck you in jail for not paying your council tax but face no penalties themselves for robbing us blind and shafting us mercilessly. I agree we dont get value for our money but one person refusing to pay will not get you anywhere. If the people of harrow were not so apathetic you would have some chance of motivating people to take action. Sadly, we know only too well that only a handful of people care enough to comment on line so getting them to join forces on not paying thier tax to this thieving council of ours is slim to nothing..

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jackdaw says...
3:02pm Fri 18 Jan 13

There is talk of an uprising and storming of the Civic Centre, to make residents voices heard. However, Harrovians are too well behaved to resort to revolution but they would like their voices heard.

The only way any notice would be taken of people's resentment at the charge would be if the whole of the Civic Centre car park were to fill with protesters.

Then the councillors would show their contempt by saying "Harrow taxpayers are revolting"

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starbright says...
10:13pm Fri 18 Jan 13

Jackdaw how do you suggest we do this a protest is surely what we need to do?

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jackdaw says...
11:08pm Fri 18 Jan 13

I agree with Harrow Rani that if there were a candidate for an Apathy party in Harrow he/she would win hands down.

If I lived in West Harrow I would be waiting on the doorstep to talk to the political candidates offering themselves for election. I would want to find out what solutions they had and if they would actually carry out their promises once elected.

Unfortunately I do not suppose most people will be aware of the increase until the 2013/.2014 Council tax bill lands on their doormat in April.

The Harrow Times needs to keep this topic on their pages so people become aware of the issues.

Again to quote Harrow Rani if we withold the tax we can be thrown in jail.

Councillors should remember that those who voted you in can vote you out again. Instead of playing yah boo politics and scoring points councillors should work together for the good of all Harrovians.

Perhaps the HT readers have some ideas of how to reach the Councillors
and persuade them to leave their ivory towers in the Civic Centre and join Harrovians in the real world or in the Civic Centre car park.


.

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starbright says...
4:39pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Jackdaw, I am one at a loss with how quiet Cllrs and our local Mps are about this issue, and two how poor the coverge is by both Harrow Times and the Harrow Observer! I suspect some Cllrs care too much about their allowances to want to rock the boat, especially the ones in the cabinet! Come on Harrow Times just as you helped over the Cllr O'Dell debacle, please print Harrow residents disgust at the 2% increase, and ask Bob Blackman and Gareth Thomas for their comments also!

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Davidx says...
2:51pm Sun 20 Jan 13

I agree with some of the sentiments. West Harrow election which is neither Tory nor Labour Ward, both parties have had claims in recent pas, will give us a clue!

The problems is that Cllrs - both administration and opposition - mostly - are keen to score political points rather than serve the Harrovians.

I would like to see the alternative budget by the opposition to help me make my mind up about a better way of presenting the budget to help the residents. Let's see Conservative alternative or in worst case, I am happy for UKIP to get a first Harrow seat.

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Paul Osborn says...
9:07pm Sun 20 Jan 13

It is worth noting the Council has refused money from the Government which have given them a 1% increase in the Council tax.

The draft budget also includes a 1% pay increase for staff.

The Labour Council administration will not give opposition parties access to the options that Council officers gave them when they were drawing up the budget, which makes producing an alternative budget almost impossible.

We have also tried to stop them wasting millions of pounds with Capita on IT projects which have predictably gone disastrously wrong.

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jackdaw says...
11:44am Mon 21 Jan 13

Thank you Cllr. Osborn for the explantion it makes things clearer and is appreciated. I wish more Councillors would give explanations about the the workings of the Council and the reasons why things are done.

Your party leader just flounced out out of the meeting about the budget trying to make a gesture which baffled the public.

We elect councillors to represent the residents not to go in for political posturing.

Is there any chance you could be cloned because we need more councillors to provide information and explanations?

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starbright says...
1:39am Tue 22 Jan 13

Cllr Osborn why do we the residents not get a say in this? Could you please answer whether all Council staff from the chief exec down are getting a 1% pay increase each year for the next 2 years? It is also worth noting that in 2 years they will increase Council staff pay by 2% per annum and also pensions will rise each year as well. Currently Harrow is 1 of only 2 authorities to have announced they are raising Council Tax, so far most have not. Hammersmith and Fulham have managed to decrease their Council Tax without too much difficulty, Harrow could not care less! It would be great if the Council could at least afford the residents a meeting before they push the 2% increase through!

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starbright says...
2:05am Tue 22 Jan 13

To add insult to injury Harrow Council are looking to raise Council Tax each year for a further 2 years!

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HarrowResident1 says...
9:42am Tue 22 Jan 13

Obviously the people running the council do not live in the real world, just like most of the politicians. They should see how difficult life is for the ordinary worker and yet they award themselves pay rises at the expense of people in the private sector who would actually like a pay rise but have little prospect of getting one. The sooner the elections come and kick this lot out the better.

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