Whether Sir Michael Lyons will be able to extricate the Government from the mire that is council tax remains to be seen. But, to paraphrase the Duke of Wellington, this year's tax rises are set to be another ‘damned, close-run thing'. The average rises in England look like scraping just beneath the 5% capping limit. They are still way above the notional inflation limit, but since every utility from water to London Underground to gas and electricity now ignores this as a benchmark, the council tax rises in context do not appear quite so stark. They are, however, perilously close to the wire, and it can hardly have escaped ministers that the system is once again creaking at the seams. Sir Michael, you may recall, was called in more than two years ago precisely to head council tax off at the pass before the 2005 election. We are still waiting for his verdict, as is Gordon Brown, who like it or not, must make a decision on the balance of funding if he is not to face a repeat performance each year. However, as The MJ reveals this week, there are already cost pressures which are outside councils' control. One London borough, Hillingdon LBC, has already warned it is imposing an extra 1% rise on local residents to fund the £1m cost of housing asylum-seekers from Heathrow Airport. This is a scandalous abrogation of responsibility by Whitehall. Then we have the soaring cost of private sector contracts, already well trailed by the LGA. Now, the head of one of Europe's largest waste contractors, Veolia, has added his pennyworth by pointing out that current Treasury proposals for lots of different PFI contracts covering waste collection and disposal could add up to 50% more on local authority costs. And, of course, the biggest pressure on council budgets continues to be meeting the rising cost of adult social care, with government grants never quite matching the ever-rising bills. If the taxpayer is unprepared to fund these extra costs, then they must be ready to make difficult decisions over what level of care is acceptable. Doubtless Sir Michael will be commenting on this sensitive subject later in the month.
