Taxpayers in Wandsworth will again pay the lowest council tax in the country next year, but opposition councillors have said council services and tenants will suffer as a result.

The average Band D property has been be frozen at £687 - Band D residents liable for the levy of the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators will pay £706 - for the third year running.

Deputy council leader, Councillor Maurice Heaster, said good management allowed the council to keep taxes low and to “continue to provide excellent local services without hitting people in the pocket”.

He said: “Over the years we have managed our finances carefully so that today the council is virtually debt-free. Add to that the year on year savings we continue to make from service reviews and you have the formula for a low council tax.”

He added schemes like introducing cheaper lighting on its road network had been adopted nationally and the council benefited from not having to service large debts, all allowing it achieve the maximum four-star award for the quality of services from the Audit Commission.

But Councillor Tony Belton, leader of the Labour group in the council, said only Bromley and Kingston Upon Thames had increases above 1 per cent in London.

He said: “There is a price to pay for this freeze. It is nonsense to claim that services are not going to be cut or that they have not been in the past or that charges have not risen.

“Headline cuts in services such as the closing of Wandsworth Museum are simply that – headline cuts. More insidious are the hundreds of little cuts to social services and benefits.”

He added: “One only has to see that Wandsworth’s rents are more than £10 a week higher than any other London borough or that charges for things like swimming have risen by more than inflation for year after year to know that there is a price to pay for freezing council tax.”

Councillor Leonie Cooper added the revenue support grant and damping grant allowed the council to keep tax levels low.

”The council has jacked-up the charges for everything it provides, but never mentions these huge stealth taxes,” she said. “Council tenants and leaseholders are especially badly hit, as rents and service charges are higher in Wandsworth than anywhere else in London.”

The council’s budget requirement for 2010/2011, at £198.2m, will be considered first by the corporate resources overview and scrutiny committee on March 3 before being voted on by the full council on March 10.

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