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Today we set our budget and the council tax for the
forthcoming financial year.
I was hoping that we would have some good news for Kent's
council taxpayers and potentially be able to use the projected
five-million pound underspend to soften the council tax
increase.
We have spent several days in intense negotiation with the
government to refund our unmet costs for providing support to
unaccompanied asylum seeking children - almost £10-million.
Today we published an independent report by PriceWaterhouse
Coopers which verifies our costs, some of which date back as far as
2005.
It also looked at the costs of Hillingdon, Oxfordshire and
Solihull, which are other affected port of entry authorities owed
money from the government incurred in looking after unaccompanied
asylum seeking children.
Despite this report and the support we received by MPs from both
sides of the house, who have lobbied government on our behalf, we
have not had a resolution from government.
The only suggestion so far has been for less than a third of the
money we are owed. Council taxpayers would not expect me to do a
deal that leaves them millions of pounds out of pocket.
We won't give up until the full costs are reimbursed and the
refunding system is changed so we don't have to go through this
year in, year out.
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