CROYDON IN CRISIS: Opposition councillors say residents will be ‘horrified’ by Tory Mayor’s request to government for ‘a staggering’ £136million bail-out
Found out: Jason Perry has admitted he is incapable of ‘fixing the finances’, as he promised when getting elected
Pay more. Get less.
That was the reaction from Croydon Labour this morning in response to Tory Mayor Jason Perry’s latest admission that he is incapable of running a balanced council budget.
Mayor Perry will be facing the first of two scheduled budget-setting meetings at the Town Hall next week, when 2025-2026 Council Tax will also be determined.
In 2023 and again in 2024, Croydon’s Labour councillors opted to abstain and so allow Tory Perry’s unbalanced budgets to pass. In 2023, that meant that Perry was able to push through his 15% Council Tax increase, which he had specifically requested from the then Conservative-run government.
Croydon’s Council Tax will be increasing by the maximum 4.99% allowed this April (a Council Tax increase of 2.99% and a 2% increase in the adult social care precept levy). That will make it higher than at any time before, and is the second highest in London (only Kingston charges more).
The latest doomsday budget spending figure comes on top of what is now being estimated as a £35million-plus overspend expected in the current, 2024-2025 financial year.
Saw it coming: Labour accused Perry of a ‘rose-tinted’ view of the council’s finances. The budget gap has soared from £83m to £98m in the eight weeks since
In a webcast in December, Croydon’s Tory Mayor described this as “a slight overspend”.
Croydon Labour described that then as a “rose-tinted statement”.
Today, making his own statement on social media on a bright red background, Stuart King, the leader of Labour’s 34-strong group of councillors at Croydon Town Hall, said, “Far from fixing the finances, under Mayor Perry the finances are actually getting worse – significantly worse.
“In a year when the council closed four of our libraries and the youth service is facing the axe, residents should not be paying for Tory mismanagement of the finances.”
Croydon Council issued its first Section 114 notice in November 2020, after six years of Labour administration in which King had been a cabinet member under the widely discredited council leader Tony Newman.
Today, Labour said that “residents will be horrified” by Perry’s request to government for “a staggering” £136million bail-out. “The request for help comes as the Mayor has struggled to deal with the consequences of his £35million overspend this year.
“Once again, residents are being told they must pay more but get less.”
Croydon blames increased demand for homelessness help and social care, combined with the rising cost of children’s placements and accommodation, for causing the financial position “to deteriorate significantly”. It claims to have the the third-highest number of people seeking homeless help in the country.
‘Significantly worse’: Labour leader Stuart King is unimpressed by Perry’s performance
The council’s debt – £1.4billion, which it has accrued over the last 15 years or so – will cost £71million in repayments and interest in the next year.
In a statement issued at the weekend, Croydon’s Conservative Mayor as good as admitted that solving the council’s financial crisis is beyond him.
“We cannot solve this alone,” said Perry, who in 2022 was elected on a promise that he would “fix the finances”. “We need a solution to Croydon’s debt, and action on the funding and demand issues facing all councils.”
Perry had previously claimed that Croydon’s woes were unique to the then Labour-run council.
Since he was elected in 2022, Jason Perry has…
- Issued a Section 114 Notice when he could not balance the council budget
- Closed four public libraries and cut other services
- Made wide-ranging cuts to Croydon’s Council Tax relief benefits, hitting many of the borough’s poorest and most vulnerable families
- Run an estimated £35million-plus budget overspend this financial year while predicting an £98million overspend in 2025-2026
- No real progress on Westfield apart from the promise of a couple of fried chicken “kiosks” in the old Allders
- Failed to re-open Purley Pool, as he promised to in his manifesto
- Pushed through a dodgy-looking property deal on Brick by Brick’s last flats
- Sold off council-owned property at millions of pounds below realistic market or development values
- Failed to recover a penny of her pay-off from Jo Negrini or bring legal action against any of those responsible for bankrupting the borough
- And all the while hiking your Council Tax between 2023 and 2024 by 21%.
By the time 2025 bills hit people’s doormats next month, flammable plastic cladding salesman Perry will have increased Council Tax in Croydon to record highs – 27% more than when he took office.
Read more: Croydon In Crisis: budget overspend now close to £100m
Read more: Cash-strapped council’s Mayor wants to give himself a pay rise
Read more: Perry pleads poverty when he has more Council Tax than ever
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