Council Tax freeze for Hackney

Full Council last night saw the Mayor announce Labour's budget plans for Hackney Council.

For the first time in memory we were able to do this far enough in advance to enable the Overview & Scrutiny Board to scrutinise the proposals before they are voted on at the budget-setting council.

In complete contrast to Hackney as a hung council in the late '90s, when budget night looked like this:

and involved riot police, huge cuts and often council tax increases at the same time, in year 5 of a Labour administration we are able to propose that:

• Hackney’s part of the council tax is being frozen for the second year in a row - with a 0% rise for 2007/8.


• Rising collection rates and efficiency savings at the Town Hall mean we are able to put more money into key services without putting up council tax.


• It will be the fifth year that there are NO cuts in services in Hackney’s budget


• There will be boosts for key services including:
  
  KIDS SWIM FREE: An extra £295K to fund free access to all residents under 18 to swimming lessons during school holidays – starting this Easter.
  BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE: An extra £80K to extend the opening hours of the Hackney Service Centre from 8am-6pm Monday-Friday to 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday AND Saturday morning. More translating services for customers without English as a first language.
  STREET WARDENS: Investment to secure the future for Hackney’s Street Wardens to help make our borough cleaner and safer.
  MORE RECYCLING: An extra £250K to roll out compulsory recycling across the borough including for plastics and to introduce blue bins for kitchen waste to all kerbside collections. MORE TREES: An extra 500 trees on Hackney’s street this year alone – reducing our carbon footprint and making Hackney greener.
  GREENER HACKNEY: An extra £1.3m to improve Hackney’s parks and green spaces
  
  In addition, Hackney’s schools are getting an extra £11 million to continue the improvements in education in Hackney that have seen GCSE results improve from 32% in 2002 to 51% today.

So the Town Hall square on Budget night 2007 should look more like this: