A FREEZE on council tax for pensioners has been put forward by Conservatives in Kirklees.
The Tory budget plans for a £466m spend would mean no increase this year for the elderly, while other people would face a 2.5% increase.
The group has also proposed taking £12m out of existing council balances to help fund a raft of proposals.
Details of the budget plan were unveiled by group leader Clr Robert Light.
He accused Liberal Demo- crats of hoarding public funds and chasing meaningless Government targets instead of providing good quality services.
He said the Liberal Democrats simply threw money at Government performance targets and schemes without giving any real thought as to how local taxpayers money was being used.
The Conservatives claim their proposals mean that pensioners would be £227 better off over the next three years, than under the Liberal Democrats. Others would be £140 better off.
The Conservatives proposals freeze the Kirklees element of the Council Tax for pensioners in 2005-6, ensuring they will always pay less in future years.
They are proposing an overall increase of 2.5% this year, followed by increases of just 3% in 2006-7 and 2007-8.
Their proposals still offer some service developments and no reduction in essential services, although they involve strong attempts to cut bureaucracy and waste which they say is rife throughout Kirklees.
Clr Light said: "Kirklees has £12m in balances, which is not required for anything specific. That money belongs to our overtaxed residents and whilst it is lying dormant in council coffers, there can be no possible justification for inflation-busting Council Tax increases.
"We are using the same balances as the Liberal Demo- crats in their own proposals, but we are using them more sensibly.
"We are sick of their spend, spend, spend policies, and we are sick of seeing rising Council Taxes which are higher than the rate of inflation."
