Peterborough City Council leader Cllr Dennis Jones and deputy leader Cllr Mohammed Jamil on the budget plans for a 9.99% hike in Council Tax
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00:00How is the financial situation facing the council at the moment?
00:05Pretty dire. We're not as bad as some of the authorities around the country
00:10but we are surviving by the skin of our teeth
00:13and we desperately want to change that situation
00:17for the benefit of this city. Certainly we want to achieve cross-party support
00:23and a greater understanding of the financial predicament we find ourselves
00:27in as a council. Okay. It talks about a council tax
00:31increase of 9.99%. Benefits would it bring?
00:35We'd never like to see that. We don't know what benefits there are and this is
00:39one of the things where we want to consult with our
00:42fellow councillors to find out what benefits there are
00:45and what we can do. Ideally not to raise it by anything like that amount.
00:51Okay. But that would allow you to invest in services though?
00:54We'd certainly like to think so yes. When it goes out for consultation we'd
00:58like the public to say to us well you know
01:01if you're going to put it by that much these are the services that we'd like to
01:04see more of. So it gives everyone an opportunity.
01:07The parties initially but then it's a consultation for everyone
01:10and the more public members get involved the more they let us know
01:14the better it could be for when we actually come to set the budget
01:18and I think you know maybe if it's not that high
01:22none of us want to set a high budget however the more money we have the more
01:26we can do with it.