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Just one council and seven police authorities face being hauled up to Whitehall to explain their council tax rises. Portsmouth City Council, with a rise of 5.04% came in marginally above the Government's 5% watershed for rises. However, the police authorities bust their budgets, with massive rises of up to 78.9%. The authorities now have 21 days to make their case to local government minister, John Healey, before a final decision on capping is made. If Mr Healey does decide to use his powers to cap the authorities, it will mean re-billing for up to 40 authorities, which could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Despite the huge burden it would place on council bills, chairman of the Local Government Association, Sir Simon Milton, said: ‘Capping means local people do not have the final say over how much money is spent on vital public services in their area, and can end up penalising councils which increase tax by no more than a few pounds a year.' He paid tribute to councils' restraint on their rises, despite being ‘under a real financial squeeze', and blamed ‘several government departments' for shifting costs on to councils for the lack of cash. ‘Councils are now the most efficient part of the public sector, providing an ever better deal for the taxpayer. ‘Town halls are making savings of almost £100m a month and will continue to make almost £5bn more savings over the next few years,' Sir Simon added. Figures for 2008/09 show the average Band D increase in England will be 4.0%. A total of 265 (58%) authorities will have increases below the 4.1% Retail Price Index, 69 (15%) below the 2.5% Consumer Price Index, 18 (4%) have no increase, and three (0.66%) are reducing council tax bills.

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WHITEHALL

Portsmouth joins police for Whitehall drubbing

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