Families face major hike in council tax

BOROUGH residents face an inflation-busting 5.99% hike in this year’s core council tax charge as the cash-strapped county looks to bridge funding gaps.

The rise would mean an extra £6 a month on the average bill, before any other increase in the levy is applied.

Chiefs at Shire Hall say the 3% of the precept will go to prop up adult social care services, which are increasingly under pressure due to an ageing population.

Initially the authority had expected to raise council tax by a total of 4.99% an updated four year financial strategy sets out the higher rate - which has sanction from the Government.

The council says the 1% extra equates to another £1-a-month on the average bill, and would generate £2.7 million more to plough back into supporting vulnerable families, maintaining roads, and reducing the financial gap.

The budget also includes £50 million of savings, £41 million of growth - mainly to cover pressures in children’s social care - and £290 million capital spend on roads, schools, property investment and broadband, making it the biggest ever four-year programme.

Byron Rhodes, deputy council leader, said: “These are unprecedented financial times for councils and even though we’ve earmarked £40 million more for our increasingly stretched children’s and adult social care services, balancing the books still requires extremely difficult decisions.

“After we published our budget proposals, as a result of rising inflation, the Government announced it would allow councils to raise council tax by an extra 1%. Asking residents to pay more is not ideal. But at a time when we face reducing much-valued services such as roads, libraries and support for vulnerable families, we have to seize opportunities to generate valuable income.

“Although these changes bring more stability, in simple terms, demand continues to outstrip our budget. We’re a much leaner organisation, generating income from a variety of sources, but our biggest challenges may still lie ahead. Pressing the Government for funding reform remains fundamental and we’re continuing to do everything in our power to secure a fair deal for Leicestershire tax payers.”

The county has plans on how the extra £2.7 million of core council tax would be spent.

Supporting Leicestershire Families would get £1 million for two years, in response to uncertainty about Government backing.

The nationally-acclaimed project brings together support from councils and partners to help tackle problems including truancy and drugs.

Road maintenance gets £600,000 extra a year to fix around 6,000 pot holes, tackle flooding hotspots and replace damaged signs, reducing the pressure on road maintenance budgets.

Public sector pay rises and inflation would take up around £1 million.

And around £100,000 would go to extending support for community managed libraries.

The savings proposals include recruiting more in-house foster carers to reduce expensive placements, refocussing ‘early help’ and prevention services, changes to special educational needs and post-16 transport, reducing support services further, including HR, ICT and finance and cutting adult social care costs.

A council tax rise of 5.99% for 2018/19 - including 3% for adult social care - and then by 2.99% for 2019/20 - including 1% per cent for adult social care is the headline suggestion.

The county hopes to generate £3.5 million by selling services to other organisations and investing in property as well as investing £290 million on roads, schools, property investment and broadband, supporting new homes and boosting the local economy- this is funded by one-off Government grants and land and property sales.

More information on the plan is available at: www.leicestershire.gov.uk/budget

The final budget proposals will be discussed by the cabinet this Friday February 9 and agreed by the full county council on February 21 - both will be webcast at: www.leicestershire.gov.uk/webcast