Councillors will not increase tax

But higher house bands set to pay more under government changes

Stirling Council’s Labour/Tory administration is proposing no change to Council Tax, which currently stands at £1,197 for a band D property before water rates.

However, those with bands E, F, G and H properties will experience an increase regardless, under changes being introduced by the Scottish Government.

Labour councillors have consistently argued for the Scottish Government’s imposed Council Tax freeze over recent years to be rethought, now they say they don’t want to impose a further burden on families on top of the nationally proposed rise.

Council leader Johanna Boyd said: “Thousands of letters dropped through council taxpayers’ doors last week from Stirling Council with details of a SNP Government imposed tax increase.

“Band E-H properties will see their bills increase by 7.5 per cent, 12.5 per cent, 17.5 per cent and 22.5 per cent respectively.

“We’ve said for nine years we need a grown up conversation about scrapping council tax. This isn’t a conversation; this is an SNP decree that will hit families hard.

“The Labour Group can’t in all good conscience compound the SNP rises further which is why this budget contains no additional increases to next year’s council tax.”

Labour say householders who live in Band E properties will see their council tax bills increase by £110 next year.

For band F householders, the rise is £216, band G £349 and band H £539. Labour councillor Corrie McChord added: “Across the country there are SNP and Labour led Administrations being dictated to by SNP Ministers at Holyrood.

“For a decade the SNP have been calling it the unfair council tax and for a decade the SNP have done nothing about replacing it, while at the same time dictating to councillors what to do with it.

“After 10 years it’s time to scrap the council tax and leave Scotland’s communities to run themselves according to local, not national, priorities.”

Stirling Council’s SNP finance spokesperson Councillor Gerry McLaughlan, however, hit back at the comments, claiming people living in Council Tax bands E-H will see a gradual increase on the amount they pay to local authorities, whilst lower bands will not be affected by the reforms.

He said councils also have the power to increase Council Tax rates by a maximum of three per cent so that more revenue can be raised whilst ensuring increases are “never again out of control”, and that a decade of frozen Council Tax had saved the average Scottish household around £1500.

Councillor McLaughlan said: “It may have escaped the notice of Councillor Boyd and the Stirling Labour Party, but Labour MSPs in Holyrood voted in favour of the Scottish Government policy.

“Nobody is arguing that the past five years have been financially challenging for local authorities as the pain of Tory-enforced austerity from Westminster continues to hurt services across the board. During this period of economic unease, families

benefitted from a Council Tax freeze that called a halt to the some 60 per cent rise in some areas of Council Tax from before.

“However, now we are working to build a sustainable and fairer system of funding local services.

“The Labour Party comments are geared towards striking fear into those who cannot afford an increase to their Council Tax and irresponsibly fail to even mention protections

for those on low incomes. If you earn below a certain threshold or have less than £16K in savings, you will be protected through an extension of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

“As we approach the 2017/18 budget decision at Stirling Council, it is high time that Labour stops playing politics and focuses on properly funding our local services for the people they are supposed to represent.”