CROYDON RATEPAYERS SPEND 15p IN THE POUND SERVICING COUNCIL LOAN DEBT
Ratepayers in Croydon are spending the equivalent of 15p in every pound of council tax they pay in clearing the council’s loan debts.
The figure has been obtained by News From Crystal Palace under a Freedom of Information Act request.
News From Crystal Palace asked:
If the average London borough is spending 23p in very pound of council tax income on servicing interest debt repayments, please could you say how many pence in every pound of council tax income are Croydon spending on servicing debt repayments?
Our request brought the following FOI response from Croydon:
“If the cost of servicing general fund debt was to be hypothecated from council tax, then Croydon would spend 15p in the pound to do so in 2016-17.
“However, it should be noted that council tax income forms only approximately 12 per cent of Croydon’s gross service expenditure, and apart from the adult social care precept, council tax income is not hypothecated to any particular service.”
As News From Crystal Palace has previously reported, back in September we put the same question to all five councils covering the Crystal Palace area – and to the councilor responsible for finance.
Bromley, Southwark and Lewisham all came back with a figure – Croydon and Lambeth did not.
This followed a report from Debt Resistance UK which said the average London borough is spending 23p in very pound of council tax income on servicing interest debt repayments.
Southwark said their figure was just 3p to 4p; Lewisham 11p – and Bromley ratepayers pay nothing. An FOI request to Lambeth elicited the figure of 5.3p in the pound.
