Going up Council proposes five per cent tax increase

PROPOSALS to hike part of the Council Tax by 4.99 per cent in will be put forward for final approval next month.

The average Band D household would pay an extra £5.13 per month for services from Gloucestershire County Council.

That is before any rises from the police, district and parish councils.

The county council’s cabinet approved the proposed yesterday ahead of a full council meeting on February 13.

The council will pump £11million of the extra funding into children’s services and a further £3million towards adult social care.

The council needs to make nearly £21million in savings next year and next year’s budget lays out what it needs as a share of the bill.

The authority needs £295million from Council Tax payers.

The council reckons the price of keeping young children safe will cost £84million next year, up from £73million, while the budget for adult social care will go up by £3million to £136million from April.

The draft 2019/20 budget sets out a range of capital investments such as £44million for schools, £57million towards highways and £7million for potholes.

Councillor Mark Hawthorne (C, Quedgeley), leader of the council, said: “Our first priority is protecting the most vulnerable people in Gloucestershire.

“This budget does that, with £11million extra to protect the most vulnerable children in our county, and £2million extra to care for vulnerable adults.

“We can only do that through our hard work, making savings and efficiencies across everything we do, over many years. We are also investing significant extra funding into Gloucestershire’s schools, and continuing our £150million investment into improving and upgrading the county roads.”

Councillor Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) labelled the budget disappointing.

He said: “Council Tax rise this year will be double the rate of inflation at five per cent.

“This is a consequence of continued austerity handed down by the Conservative government, who a long time ago stopped adequately funding Gloucestershire’s public services.

“The council tax base is greater than first thought, giving the county council and extra £2million flexibility.

“The decision of cabinet to increase funding to the highways local scheme is welcome, as is the scrapping of the £160,000 cuts to the Fire & Rescue Service budget.

“At council on February 13, Liberal Democrats will be proposing amendments to the budget, which will improve council services.” leigh.boobyer@reachplc.com