Edinburgh Greens make a plea to Holyrood
The Green Group on the City of Edinburgh Council has already set out its stall on what it will ask for at the Budget meeting today.
The five councillors want the council to increase the council tax in the capital by 97 pence and say that this rise would raise £10million. Greens hope that this package would head off the worst of the £85m cuts which the council faces.
The council tax freeze is imposed by The Scottish Government and so the Green convener, Councillor Gavin Corbett, has written to Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister John Swinney setting out why the Scottish Government could and should choose not to penalise the council for exercising the choice to raise council tax by 97p to protect services.
The administration claimed last week that if they choose to raise council tax in the city it would need to rise by more than 10% just to allow the council to ‘stand still’. The council would face a financial penalty imposed by Holyrood if they ignore the council tax freeze.
This is the text of the letter:
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