Budget report County backs 4% tax hike but warns of adult care crisis
County councillors have confirmed a 4% rise in the council tax in a budget that council leader Paul Carter acknowledged was “high risk”.
The authority’s spending plans for 2017-18 were approved by the council after a six-hour debate at County Hall last week.
Opposition parties said the budget would leave residents paying more for poorer services.
However, there was consensus among all the parties urgent action was needed to address the dwindling amount of money provided by the government to meet spiralling demand for adult care.
The council is making savings of £18.1m in services for vulnerable adults, but that figure would have been even higher had it not been for changes in the way care costs had been trimmed through a partnership with consultancy Newton Europe.
The budget debate took place against a backdrop of claims that Surrey County Council had secured a sweetheart deal with the government to avoid a 15% council tax hike.
Leader Paul Carter said, while he had no knowledge of any deal, it would be inappropriate for Surrey to have special treatment.
On KCC’s budget, he said the council had a good track record but the government had to address the adult social care crisis.
“We have transformed the way services are delivered, particularly investing in preventative services to avoid escalation and focused on efficiency to back office processes to maximise the investment in frontline service delivery.”
But he said short-term fixes to the funding challenges in adult care could not continue and a sustainable long-term solution was needed.
“Are we approaching a crisis in social care funding? I think the government readily accepts that we are... and it will come round and bite us unless local government and central government finds new ways of funding care.”
The budget will see average bills for KCC’s share of the council tax rise by £45 to £1,178 for homes in Band D.
KCC is using for the second year a power to add a 2% supplementary tax to pay for more adult care.
Last week the KM revealed the police element of council tax would go up by an inflationbusting 3.3%, increasing bills by £5 a year on average.