£50 value for money rebate for all Ealing households
At Council on Tuesday night, Leader of the Council, Jason Stacey, announced our latest value for money initiative – a £50 rebate for all households in Ealing. Value for Money is one of the Conservative Council’s 3 priorities – already we’ve delivered 3 below inflation Council tax increases (1.9%. 1.9% and then frozen this year). Now, thanks to some good financial management and a bit of a windfall from a provision that’s been released, we are able to refund over £6 million back to residents.
We’ll get some criticism from some people who’ll say that we should spend it on this or that – but times are tough for many people and you’ve given us the money (through Council Tax, VAT, income tax etc), so it seems reasonable to let you have it back. I was at a meeting tonight where Labour councillor Patricia Walker claimed it was a gimmick and said it wouldn’t even pay for her hairdresser’s appointment. That may be true for Cllr Walker, but to many people £50 is a lot of money and a refund at Christmas will be very welcome.
We’re keen that this refund should help our local businesses and we will be making an announcement later in the month about how we will tie this into other initiatives (like scrapping local car parking charges again). Stephen Pound (Ealing North’s soon to be former MP), claims that this is some Conservative Central Office inspired initiative, because only Conservative Councils have done it – the fact is that it’s nothing to do with central office, and everything to do with good Conservative Councils managing resources effectively and working to support local businesses and residents.
The story made one of the lead stories on London news and you can watch it by clicking on the image above – did anyone notice my wife and daughter were caught in the TV clip?
Tags: £50 refund, Council Tax, Ealing Council, Jason Stacey, rebate, Stephen Pound, Value for Money
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18 June 2009 at 11:26 pm
Nice gesture, Ian!
But you say the £50 will be paid to all households. Aren’t we forgetting that those in Band D and above pay more in council tax and subsidise those in lower bands. So why doesn’t the council pay less to lower banded properties?
Just being in a high council tax band doesn’t make a person more well off. After all, these valuations were done in 1991.
19 June 2009 at 7:50 pm
And isn’t it strange that this is coming in the run-up to next year’s elections?
21 June 2009 at 5:13 pm
It’s a bribe – pure and simple.
24 June 2009 at 5:22 pm
Surely it would be cheaper to adjust next year’s tax rather than give a rebate and incure the expense of administration. But of course this would not be a grand gesture, just giving the Ealing tax payer value for money.
28 June 2009 at 10:46 am
Ian
Steve Pound is right to point out that only conservative councils have done this. No labour council could do this because they’ve never underspent in their lives. This rebate is the result of good financial managment by this council and and acceptance by us that it is the council tax payers money in the first place. It’s theirs so we should give it back to them.