THE mayor of Falmouth has denied ‘rail-roading’ through the town council’s budget for next year after councillors voted to approve a 21 per cent increase to pay for a takeover of the Princess Pavilion.

The accusation was made by two councillors at a full meeting of the town council on Monday night. Mayor Steve Eva proposed the council put through the budget approved unanimously at a meeting of the council’s finance and general purposes committee last week.

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The budget will increase the town council’s part of the council tax bill, known as its precept, by 21 per cent and will allow it to take over the Princess Pavilion and Gyllyngdune Gardens from GLL. It will equate to around £1.20 a week for a band D property.

The 21 per cent increase would only be for the town council’s proportion of the council tax and not the overall council tax for the year.

Proposing that the council accepted the decision of the F&G committee, mayor Steve Eva said: “We had a big debate about the budget we agreed unanimously.

“This is basically to accept the meeting’s opinion and put it forward to Cornwall Council. I don’t think we need to muddy the waters we had a good debate on it.

"It’s not actually back here for debate it’s basically just to recognise what the decision was at F&G and we go ahead and send this to Cornwall Council.”

But following the vote, which at first was declared unanimous, Coun John Spargo said he actually wanted to register that he had voted against the proposal and had only been holding his hand up because he wanted to speak against it. He accused the mayor of 'rail-roading' the budget through.

“You took that vote with my hand up trying to speak and I didn’t get an opportunity to speak,” he said. “You went straight through. I think this is being railroaded to a degree which I’m not particularly pleased about it.

"I want it to be registered that I am totally against this budget as it stands. I fully support everything it’s financing but I am fully against the way we are budgeting it, taking money from the taxpayers of the town.

"We don’t need to do that. The Princess Pavilion could be financed by a loan and the loan to be paid by the income that will be generated over years.”

But Mayor Eva denied the accusation and queried why Coun Spargo had voted for it the first time round if he was so against it now.

“There are a few of us have had a chance to think about this and we have all thought about it and we don’t agree,” said Coun Spargo. “We’ve changed our minds about whether we are doing this the right way.

"None of us think the Princess Pavilion shouldn’t be taken on board. There’s a group of us that feel strongly that isn’t the best way to finance that. What I’d like to talk about tonight is to consider borrowing the money.”

Coun Spargo was backed by two other councillors in his reservations. Coun David Saunby said he had ‘huge concerns” about it, while Coun Alan Jewell said he wanted it noted he had abstained from the vote as he also thought the mayor was ‘railroading’ it through.

“I want to make it on the record that we remember you were one of the main ones each time to defer this budget in December and here you are now rail-roading that huge increase,” said Coun Jewell.

But the mayor said the council had unanimously voted to accept the increase, knowing what they were going to get for that increase which was Princess Pavilions, The Lodge and other things.

“It wasn’t a debate, it was a vote to accept the budget that was unanimously agreed at F&G. Nobody wants to be putting money on peoples’ bills,” he said. “Nobody wants that but it’s done.”

He added: “My job as the mayor is to agree whatever the council decides. The council decided unanimously at F&G to pass this budget. My job is to support the budget.” 

Coun David Saunby said it was too much for the rate payer to pay: “I can state now I have got huge concerns about the 70p for the pavilions, it’s far too much for the rate payer to pay.

"There’s a lot of people who cannot afford that.What we should have done is look into our own budget or look at a loan to cover that money.”

Coun Jude Robinson said that the council had taken the vote and they shouldn’t be arguing about it.