Bournemouth Council, in all its arrogance, voted itself the proposed pay deal we tirelessly campaigned against over the past two weeks. Last Thursday the Council awarded themselves a 17% pay increase, the Cabinet gave themselves an astonishing 32% pay increase and the leader awarded himself a 34% pay increase. In the same meeting, the Council voted for a 4.9% Council Tax increase, the maximum amount given the 5% cap imposed on councils. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know where your Council Tax rise is going.
Despite persistent lobbying from hard-working TaxPayers’ Alliance activists and campaigners, we managed to rally the opposition on Bournemouth Council to stand against these rises recommended by an independent panel which, as it turned out, wasn’t that independent at all.
Bournemouth Council is yet to publish online the minutes for the Full Council meeting, but nevertheless if you are still unaware how your councillor voted you can click the link here to find your councillor’s contact details. Already the Bournemouth Echo story reporting the massive pay hike has 94 comments from apoplectic taxpayers demanding action over such snout-in-the-trough greed. Feel free to add your disgust at this prime example of gravy-train politics.
If you’re angry, then help us form a Bournemouth branch of the TaxPayers’ Alliance. If you want to hold these politicians to account, then join us and contact me to get involved. We showed Bournemouth Council our strength in the sheer number of activists who lobbied and contacted Bournemouth councillors to protest against the pay increases. Although we didn’t get the result we wanted, we came close as I understand there were wobbles from several Tory councillors who knew just how unpopular this pay deal was. With your help next time, with your input we can force the politicians to climb down and see that you, the taxpayer, have had a direct say over how they spend your money. Nothing will change if you don’t get involved!