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Liberal Democrats on Kent County CouncilThe Official Opposition on Kent County Council |
SOARING COUNCIL TAX BILLS
April 25, 2005 12:00 AM
Kent Conservatives Are Totally Misleading Kent People
Members of all parties have expressed disgust at a Kent Conservative newspaper advertisement circulated this week in which the Asylum Seekers are wrongly blamed for soaring Council Tax bills. The advertisement claims that KCC has spent £259m on Asylum Seekers which could have been spent on services for local people. This money has in fact been refunded to KCC with the exception of £20m which is the subject of negotiation. Of that £20m, £14m has already been paid to KCC subject to Government agreeing KCC's figures.
KCC has set its annual budgets in every year since 1997 assuming that Government will refund all Asylum Seekers spending, and it is therefore completely misleading to say this money could have been spent on local services. In only 1 year has KCC added to the Council Tax bill a sum of £3 to the average household in 2000/01 wrongly assuming that Government would not fund Asylum Seeker's costs in that year. In fact the money was refunded shortly after the budget was set and before the County Council elections which were held in that year.
Trudy Dean, Leader of the KCC Lib Dem Group said: "Kent Conservatives are totally misleading the Kent people by blaming Asylum Seekers to cover up the fact that they have increased Council Tax bills by £572 since they took control of KCC in 1997. This is a despicable move to mislead Kent voters and wrongly lay the blame on Asylum Seekers for increasing Council Tax bills which have shot up under the Tories."