Tax Victory for Folkestone: Zero Rise in Folkestone Town Council Precept for 2007-08

Following months of pressure by the Liberal Democrat team, Folkestone Town Council last night voted for a zero rise in the tax they collect from Folkestone residents for the next financial year AND backed new spending to make Folkestone cleaner.

The original budget put to the Council meeting included a rise in Council tax. An amendment put by the Deputy Mayor and backed by the Lib Dems proposed to remove the Council tax rise by reducing the amount being added to Council cash reserves in 2007-08.

The council tax charged to Folkestone residents is from a variety of sources - Folkestone Town Council, Shepway District Council, Kent County Council, Kent Fire and Rescue and the Folkestone Parks Charity. The decision by Folkestone Town Council will freeze that section of the Council Tax - the other areas may make a different decision.

Folkestone Finance Committee member Tim Prater was delighted with the amended budget. He said:

"This gets the best for Folkestone, and I was delighted to see that in the end, the proposals we have been pushing for some time - that there was no need to increase Council Tax from Folkestone, and that we should be supporting new spending on cleaner streets - were backed by Councillors of all groups.

"A recent survey by the Liberal Democrats shows that almost 3 out of 4 respondents wanted to see Council Tax frozen this year, and that better street cleaning was the overriding priority for Folkestone residents.

"This budget achieves both those aims, simply by reducing the gap between what the Council proposes to tax Folkestone residents next year and what it will spend on them. It reduces to more reasonable levels the amount of money being added to Council reserves - clearly, there have to be some reserves, but the amount that was being proposed to add to reserves in the next 15 months was just too high.

"More money being spent on Folkestone, with new expenditure to be targeted at making Folkestone cleaner. No rise in the Council Tax from Folkestone. This is a good deal for Folkestone."