Bath and North East Somerset Council has announced this week that it will be proposing a general Council Tax increase of 1.25% which will need to be voted upon when the Cabinet meets on February 10th to agree the budget for 2016/17. A 1% rise will bring around an extra £750,000 for the Council.
This decision was not unexpected. Since last month’s announcement on local government funding, which saw a larger reduction in Government grant than had been anticipated, B&NES Council has had to find an additional £3.6 million worth of savings in the coming year, with further savings required in future years over and above the £38 million it had already been working on achieving over the next four years.
As well as changes to the way in which the Government calculates how much funding it allocates to each local authority, the Government has also confirmed that it will be ending the ‘Council Tax Freeze Grant’, which had enabled Council Tax bills to be frozen for the past five years and encouraged local Councils not to raise the rates.
The Council says that as a result of these changes and in addition to the new 2% social care precept announced by the Government last autumn, the Cabinet is proposing a general Council Tax increase of 1.25%. This will enable the authority to deliver a balanced budget and protect the main front-line services residents receive from the Council, as well as help meet the rising cost of caring for an ageing population.
Councillor Charles Gerrish (Conservative, Keynsham North), the Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency said: “The Council is currently facing the biggest financial challenge in its history, with a combination of significant reductions in Government funding and increasing demand for services such as social care.
“This has inevitably resulted in some difficult choices over which services to prioritise most. However, our aim throughout this process has been to maximise efficiency and grow income through investments so that we can better protect frontline services and keep Council Tax levels as low as possible.
“Unlike previous years, the Government is no longer providing an additional grant to enable Council Tax bills to be frozen. However, we believe that the Council Tax rise we are proposing will still be among the lowest in the country, something which has only been achieved by undertaking a thorough root-and-branch review of the Council’s finances.
“We have always said that raising Council Tax is the last resort for us, and the vast majority of the savings we are having to make are being achieved through increased efficiency, service innovation and back-office savings, enabling frontline services to be protected as far as possible.”The Lib-Dems have been quick to respond, saying that the rise presents a financial double whammy in the coming year. Cllr Andy Furse (Kingsmead, Lib-Dem) said: "The 2% so-called 'precept' for Social Care is a Council Tax increase in disguise. When added to the 1.25% increase, the total is a 3.25% rise in the coming financial year."Liberal Democrats in B&NES recognise that our social care system is under a lot of pressure and that the added flexibility to draw in more funding is hard for Councils to refuse. Nevertheless, it cannot be left solely to local taxpayers to fix our chronically underfunded care system. This is a government sleight of hand to offload an expensive responsibility."The Lib-Dem Group Leader, Cllr Dine Romero (Southdown) added: "This budget announcement is short on detail and long on passing the buck. What is particularly concerning is that the Cabinet appears to be looking at only the next financial year. The next four years will see over £40 million of cuts to Council budgets and the Conservatives have been very secretive about where these will fall. Residents will have to expect cuts and changes to public services, plus increases in fees and charges, on top of an annual Council Tax hike."This clearly shows the difference between the coalition government, which protected residents from Council Tax rises, and an unfettered Conservative government which has the knives out for local government."