Cllr John Warren, leader of the Brent Conservatives, writes in the Kilburn Times:
Just like Christmas comes around once a year ....so does the inevitable Brent budget consultation follow.
What are we told every year, and particularly this year, by Cllr Butt and his Labour administration?
* It will be the end of the world in Brent!
* The council has no money!
* Residents will be asked to pay
* 4 per cent more in their council tax in each of the next two years!
*The press office is vital to the running of the council!
Let me deal with these assertions:
Despite tales of doom and gloom, the council survives and residents’ rubbish is still collected, children at risk are being looked after and your children still go to our schools.
It is laughable to claim Brent has no money. We have record- breaking bank balances as the money is rolling in from all sources, including the hated green bin tax and the massive increases in parking charges just introduced.
Brent makes an annual profit of around £12million on its parking account.
We are now in seventh position out of the 32 London boroughs in terms of parking profit.
It is totally obscene that residents should be facing an 8pc increase in council tax over the next two years.
I am an accountant by profession, but do I need to be one when all I need to do is look around the Wembley Stadium area and see what is going on there?
New building after new building going up means massive increases for Brent in both council tax receipts and business rates.
The population is rocketing and more people means more monies for the council.
The fact that this council spends £500,000 on its press office every year tells you all you need to know about where their priorities lie. We used to be told by the press office about all the awards that Brent were winning for our
wonderful £80m Civic Centre, but we have heard nothing in recent months!
There is an alternative and in my last two years budget proposals I have put forward a 2.5pc reduction in council tax in each year and at the same time maintained front-line services and put more money into social care.
I shall be doing the same in February 2017 in my budget. How is it done? Simply cut out wasteful expenditure.
For example do not spend £1.5m on a fruitless, vindictive employment tribunal case, as Brent did in the Rosemarie Clarke case.
But do spend the monies that we have lying in our banks on our front-line services, and return monies not needed back to our residents.
I prefer money to be lying in the bank of residents rather than the bank of Brent Council.