'No' 2014 Games council tax rise

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Council tax payers will not be asked to pay for the 2014 Commonwealth Games if Glasgow wins its bid to host the event.

Hosting the Games would cost the local authority an estimated £58m.

Council leader Steven Purcell said: "One thing I am absolutely clear about is there will be no impact on council tax to pay for the Games."

Conservatives said the pledge was rash. Liberal Democrats said they would review 2014 funding and Nationalists vowed to replace council tax.

Mr Purcell said the council would sell surplus property and land to meet the costs of hosting the event.

Robust monitoring procedures will form a crucial element of the funding arrangements Scottish Executive spokesman <a class="" href="/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6495647.stm">Commonwealth costs examined</a>

A council spokesman said land and property worth "hundreds of millions of pounds" was available for sale across the city.

But he said he could not identify specific sites for commercial reasons.

The overall cost of running the Games is put at £288m by the bid team. A breakdown of that figure will not be available until 9 May, when the final bid is officially submitted.

Glasgow City Council is meeting 20% of the costs and the Scottish Executive is paying 80%.

Mr Purcell vowed the costs would be "managed very carefully".

Bill Aitken, Scottish Conservative candidate in Glasgow, described Mr Purcell's council tax promise as rash.

He added: "We are all very keen to get the Games.

"There is a cost, which can hopefully be offset against the money the Games would bring to the city."

'Affordable Games'

A spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats said the party would examine bid funding if they win power at Holyrood.

He added they would seek to claw back lottery money which had gone to the London Olympics.

Glasgow SNP councillor John Mason said his party wants to replace the council tax with a local income tax within two years.

He added: "There is enthusiasm in Glasgow for the bid, £7m a year is not a huge sum and we should be able to find that."

In an exclusive interview with the BBC Scotland news website, Derek Casey, Glasgow 2014 bid director, said the costs of staging the Games were "affordable" and could be "contained".

A Scottish Executive spokesman said Glasgow 2014 did not have the same issues as London 2012, where the costs of staging the Olympic Games had spiralled.

He said Glasgow had 70% of the venues and infrastructure already in place.

"There is no requirement for any new large scale 2014 specific capital projects," he said.

"Robust monitoring procedures will form a crucial element of the funding arrangements."

Glasgow is facing competition from Nigeria and a final decision will be made by the Commonwealth Games Federation in Sri Lanka in November.