City council tax bill set to rise by £150
COUNCIL tax is set to rise across Birmingham, with most families paying at least £150 more in the year ahead.
Even for the cheapest properties in the city, the tax increase will be more than £100, taking the bill for the lowest band A property to more than £1,100.
Birmingham City Council is due to confirm the full rise – the equivalent of 3.99 per cent – at its full council meeting on Tuesday.
Councillors will also be asked to approve the city’s spending plans, including proposed cuts to some services.
The city council needs to raise £367.5 million in council tax towards its overall £3.2 billion spending plans for the year from April 1.
Speaking earlier this year about the city’s budget proposals and council tax rise, city leader Councillor Ian Ward (Lab) declared that “any thoughts that the period of austerity is over for local government should be dismissed’”
He said: “This continues to be the most challenging period in the council’s history with an unprecedented reduction in government funding due to last for at least another four years.”
But he added that the city still had much to look forward to, including the Commonwealth Games and HS2 alongside the current “record levels of investment” in developments delivering homes and jobs. Opposition Conservative Group leader Councillor Rob Alden (Erdington) accused the Labour administration of hitting “hardworking residents in the pocket to cover its own inadequacies”, citing the costly bin disputes of the last two years in particular.