The council is being urged to publish a list of all its land and buildings.
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the opposition Conservative group on Brighton and Hove City Council, said that such a move would increase transparency and could identify potential savings for local taxpayers.
He urged the council to list its assets after Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, published a national public property map.
Councillor Theobald said: “I very much welcome this new initiative from the government and hope that the Greens will make this information available to residents.
“The council and other public sector organisations in the city own many millions of pounds worth of land and buildings and there must be enormous scope to make better use of these.
“The Greens should be exploring all these avenues before demanding 3.5 per cent more council tax from local residents.”
Councillor Theobald said that 87 local authorities had contributed to the creation of the national map although the council was not among them.
He said that a study had shown that 20 per cent savings could be made by rationalising public assets or sharing buildings with other local services such as the police and NHS.
The previous Conservative administration had a programme of making better use of public buildings, he said, with its value for money review.
One result was the council saving £600,000 a year by relinquishing the lease on Priory House and setting up a “one-stop shop customer centre” in Bartholomew House.
Councillor Theobald said: “By opening up this information to residents and community groups, it will make it easier to protect vital assets such as local shops, community centres, libraries and leisure centres which may otherwise fall out of public use.”
He added that an asset list would also enable residents to take advantage of some of the measures in the government’s Localism Bill which is currently going through Parliament.
These include a “community right to buy” and a “community right to reclaim land”.
The “demo” public property map – including schools, parks and post offices, among other things – can be found by clicking here.
