"Tories refuse to end £3.2m annual growth on wage bill" - Brooks

2.53.52pm GMT Mon 15th Dec 2008

Council tax payers in West Berkshire are facing continued uncontrolled rises in the public sector wage bill at the Council after Tories voted against a measure to stop creating new positions.

Lib Dem Leader Jeff Brooks slammed the decision, saying, "These crucial proposals were made against a backdrop that shows a dramatic and expensive growth in numbers of staff within the Authority that has added a significant burden to the Council Tax payer across the District. Given that the average salary of a staff member in West Berkshire with payroll costs included, the Administration has added £3.2M of extra cost to this Council's annual budget - nearly 5% extra on your Council Tax bill with the creation of 100 new posts since they took power in May 2005. Thursday night was a chance to say enough is enough - we will replace key staff who leave, but not create any more positions in a Council wide headcount freeze. But the Tories have turned this down and gave no assurances that they would begin to control the growth of the wage bill across the Council and further burden tax payers in the District."