Pension Costs Increase as Deficit Deepens

8.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 16th May 2009

Residents are being forced to fund the deficit through their council tax

The cost of the county council's pension fund to Surrey residents looks set to rise steeply. Last year it represented almost 5% of our council tax payments, but due to the fund's worsened deficit (almost 50%) this is likely to rise to over 8% by next year, according to figures obtained recently by Cllr Colin Taylor.

"Poorly paid council staff deserve a decent pension" said Colin, "but the fact remains that most Surrey residents have seen their own pensions schemes fold up completely (following Gordon Brown's policy of taxing them), yet are being forced to fund the deficit in the county council's pension fund through their council tax."