Police want council tax cap broken (From Warrington Guardian)

Police want council tax cap broken

POLICE want to break the council tax cap to keep officers on the streets.

They want to increase their levy by around seven per cent - and the government says you can't go above five per cent.

Police authority chairman Peter Nurse told Halton police forum last week the increase is needed to stop police being taken away from front line work.

"Whether the police minister Hazel Blears will accept it or not, we don't know," he said.

He said current tax levels were 'not enough to keep the show on the road.'

He added: "It's a tight corner we are in.

"If we underfund the police then the public doesn't get the service it wants.

"And if we have a high council tax increase that is penalising the residents of Halton."

The police are trying to save money by leaving civilian police jobs unfilled and there is an embargo on cutting officer numbers.

This means police are having to do the work that civilians should be doing.

Mr Nurse said only a 12 per cent increase would stop any police being taken away from their jobs.

The police council tax levy, which accounts for about eight percent of what you pay in council tax, went up by 10 per cent last year.

The meeting also heard that Cheshire police numbers have gone up by 210 in the past four years.