The financial allocation to local councils remained unchanged despite the increase in Value Added Tax and the prices of various contractors providing services for local councils, Labour Councillors’ Section deputy president Dr Luciano Busuttil said yesterday.

In a statement, Dr Busuttil said that what Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said recently, that local councils have had a constant increase in their financial allocation, was not true.

He said that in the last five years, the financial allocation to local councils always varied between Lm10 million and Lm11 million despite the increase in prices of electricity, VAT and other services.

He said that during the last meeting for mayors and deputy mayors, the councillors elected on behalf of the Nationalist Party voted in favour of a motion calling on the government to allocate more money to local councils.

Dr Busuttil said that year in, year out, local councils are having less money to spend on projects and notwithstanding this, the responsibilities are increasing. On the workers seconded with the councils, Dr Busuttil said that from three per council, the government reduced the number of workers to just one before the former dockyard workers started working for the councils.

In his statement, Dr Busuttil said that the government does not really believe in local councils because it does not give the resources for them to operate effectively and without problems.

He urged people to vote for Labour candidates since only these can make a difference in the localities where they are elected.