Sadly the Tories voted against our proposal not to increase Council Tax this year and used their majority to stop residents suffering another increase this year.The Conservatives have stashed away £180 million in reserves and balances after overcharging people with inflation-busting council tax increases for the past three years. They plan to use £18.2m of this money to have a less high increase in election year, but that still leaves an obscene amount of tax-payers’ money sitting idle in the bank.The Liberal Democrat budget would have allowed Hampshire residents to have a holiday from council tax increases this year. People need relief in these harsh economic times. It will also help local businesses by committing Hampshire to pay all bills within 10 working days.We proposed an alternative budget for Hampshire which would also improve services by giving people the benefit of the money they’ve been overcharged in past years and by cutting £2.0 million from the £4.5 million county budget for publicity and “spin”.The Liberal Democrat budget would have given a £5 million boost to road, footway and verge maintenance throughout Hampshire to clear the backlog of potholes following 12 years of Conservative control. It would also prevent any more cuts in valuable bus services, put more new books on the shelves of Hampshire libraries and help families and small businesses during these difficult economic times.

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