Press Release – AS MUCH AS THEY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH

Press Release – 17th March 2019

Two weeks ago Croydon Council once again decided to raise the tax burden on the hard working families of Croydon by the maximum of 2.99% for the council without calling a referendum. To give them the benefit of the doubt that they have not done, as to quote Sir Humphrey Appleby “pitch for as much as they think they can get away with and then think what to spend it on”, we would like to ask the council to reconsider the rise and make some savings.

Our proposals would bring down the increased tax take by 10% to a 2.69% increase in council tax. This would give more money back to stretched family budgets and remove the impression of a council treating taxpayers like fools.

To achieve this we needed to save £518,000 from Croydon council’s 2019/20 budget. We have done this with room to spare, here’s how:

  • Croydon’s Councillors are amongst the highest paid in London. If we reverse last year’s pay increase to bring them closer to the norm we can save £30,429.69 a year.
  • Does anyone seriously believe that being the senior leader in Croydon Council is harder than being Home Secretary? Harder than being Chancellor? Are most jobs harder than being a Minister of State, like say the Minister of Housing? Granted this might not be possible overnight, but by reducing the Chief Executive’s salary to that of a Cabinet Member (£134K) and all other Directors to that of a Minister of State (£98K) we can save a whopping £213,129 a year.
  • We would like to leave more money in people’s pockets to make their own entertainment choices. Your weekend is not best planned by the council. The Culture Growth Fund in the past year has funded a Boxpark priced above disposable income of most Croydon families, a Croydon Pride photo opportunity for local politicians that could have been funded by commercial sponsors, the Drunken Chorus Arts Collective, and somehow found £10,000 for someone to take a poo on stage. Halving this budget, and funding the truly unique and exceptional arts in the borough, not just those for the upper middle class or that take a poo, we can save £114,500 annually.
  • Councillors receive £8000 a year to fund local ward projects on fairly lose criteria. This sounds great but in reality most councillors (and we have 3 per ward in half the borough) struggle for ideas to spend the money on. If the community wants a local service, it’s a great opportunity to fundraise and pay for it. If they don’t, don’t force others to pay for it in tax. This money also risks looking like a series of local bribes, but does support some important services. We suggest councillors struggle by on £4000 a year for their local tax payer funded largess, saving a massive £288,000 a year

The total saving here is £646,058.69. £127K more that we proposed, the council could even pay down some debt. All of these savings have been achieved without impacting a single front line service.

If these savings weren’t enough maybe the council could have saved £11 million by delivering the Fairfield Halls on budget http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2019/03/outrage-as-council-exceeds-fairfield-halls-refurbishment-budget-by-11m/ or £8 million but keeping to the budget for New Addington Leisure Centre https://www.shakinghands.co.uk/news/20170720_new-addington-leisure-centre/. Of Course had Croydon’s highly paid Councillors or Directors brought either project in on budget, Council Tax could have gone down this year.

Both Labour and Tory councillors voted for the increase. The people of Croydon desperately need councillors that will represent them and their families’ budget as much as they represent councillors’ allowances

Press Release – A LESS TAXING RESOLUTION

The Croydon Constitutionalists call on Croydon Council to make 2019 a less spendthrift year for the council and less taxing for the people of Croydon.

2018 saw another 5% council tax rise, hurting the poorest families in Croydon the hardest. Meanwhile councillors voted themselves a 2% allowance increase for backbenchers and a 4.4% increase for frontbenchers.

The council has spent much of the year complaining about a lack of funds. Yet in the 9 months of 2018 we have data for, they have found £36,100 for Croydon Pride, and £5,000 for their favourite pub the Oval Tavern (on top of the £5,000 paid last year), from the Cultural Growth fund that has paid out £373,455.65 on payments over £500.

Further payments from the Cultural Growth Fund include; £51,000 made it to the ‘Remarkable Productions Company Ltd’, £29,996 to ‘We Made That’, £9,500 to the ‘Festival of Peace Croydon’, £9,625 to the ‘Drunken Chorus Arts Collective’ and a very round £10,000 to each of ‘Croydonites Festival of New Theatre’, ‘Dance Umbrella’, ‘Drum the Bass’, and ‘Zoo Co Theatre Ltd’.

Of course on top of this, £143,326 went to Boxpark. Many of us enjoy Boxpark, but with prices that can only be afforded by people with high disposable incomes it can hardly be considered a critical public service. The Ends Festival is due to be staged in Lloyd Park next year in partnership with Croydon Council. It’s not clear what public money will be spent on this but with tickets starting at £50 and full price tickets at £148.50 this is clearly not For the Many.

Away from cultural spend £11,905,888 was spent on ‘Brick by Brick Overheads and Admin’ an organisation that is yet to deliver an occupied home. In the last 36 months’ severance payments totalling £166,994.88 were made to ‘Chief Officers’ of the council, above normal contractual limits.

At this festive time of year we call on Councillor Tony Newman and Croydon Council to spread some joy in 2019 and make a New Year’s resolution to start looking after Taxpayers money.

Value for money in Croydon?

Following our recent campaign with the TaxPayers’ Alliance Croydon’s newspapers are asking – Are we getting value for money for our Council Tax?

REVEALED: This is how much Croydon Council has spent on vehicles for mayors since 2015 https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/croydon-council-mayor-spending-cars-1918204

Revealed: Croydon Council is hiring private detectives and it is costing them thousands http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/16591581.revealed-croydon-council-is-hiring-private-detectives-and-it-is-costing-them-cost-thousands/

TaxPayers’ Alliance Street Stall Croydon 18th August

Great street stall in Croydon with the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Campaigning for lower taxes and less waste in government spending. Photos and a short video from the day below.

Visit the TPA at https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/ to find out more.

Croydon Leaflet

‘Spend Croydon’s money on fixing potholes not sculptures’ – Croydon Advertiser and Croydon Guardian

“Members of a group which campaigns for lower taxes and an end to wasteful government spending will be in Croydon town centre on Saturday.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance are due to pitch up in the High Street campaigning for lower taxes and against government waste.”

Full Croydon Advertiser article https://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/news/croydon-news/spend-croydons-money-fixing-potholes-1910633

Croydon Advertiser Facebook Page wuth great comments https://www.facebook.com/114339615299800/posts/1840508142682930/

Croydon Guardian http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/16444976.taxpayers-alliance-to-set-up-stall-in-croydon/

Being priced out of the Croydon job market – Croydon Citizen

As part of his acceptance speech at the local election count last month, Tony Newman suggested within the council’s powers, they do just that. The new council wants to create “a living wage borough, not just a living wage council”.    Michael Swadling writes in the Croydon Citizen about the folly of this plan. https://thecroydoncitizen.com/economics-business/priced-croydon-job-market/

Comments on the Facebook post give an interesting insight into the lack of awareness of the downside of minimum wage policies.

https://www.facebook.com/492128770821844/posts/1963660610335312/