Households to pay more for less - bills up despite big cuts
‘I do not believe there is a single councillor in this chamber who wants to increase the level of taxation’
The average council tax bill is set to rise by £73 a year.
Kent county councillors voted to raise the levy by 4.995% last week, meaning band D households will see a rise of £72.99 a year, or £1.40 a week.
Residents also pay tax precepts to their district and borough council, police, the fire service and, depending on where they live, parish councils.
The precept for Kent County Council (KCC) is split into 3% for general services and 2% to fund adult social care.
Council tax is due to generate £876 million which makes up 66% of KCC’s £1.3 billion revenue budget.
The budget includes taking £12.5 million from the council’s reserve funds.
During the authority’s budget meeting on February 9 – which lasted some seven hours – the difficulties facing the council’s purse strings were laid bare. Deputy leader Cllr Peter Oakford (Con), pictured, said the biggest areas where increased spending was required were older people’s residential and nursing care, home to school transport and children in care. He said: “These increases come from a combination in changes in demand – which includes client complexity – market factors which include inflation, and recruitment challenges, especially in the care market.
“I do not believe there is a single councillor in this chamber today who wants to increase the level of taxation within the current economic climate. Collectively,
we totally understand the pressures that residents of Kent are facing.
“We have got to make difficult decisions and include this increase, or we would need to make further, substantial decreases to the services that KCC provides.”
Council leader Roger Gough (Con) said a projected overspend of £60m for the current financial year was coming down and this was the first time this had happened in 22 years, before adding the pressures would continue into next year.
He added: “We will see a draw down in our reserves this year as a result of the fact it is almost certain that the 2022/23 budget will not be balanced in the way that we have in 22 years.” Councillors expressed their frustration at having to consider the budget despite some cuts in services which are yet been confirmed, as they are still under debate.
One is a 10-week consultation over the authority’s plans to cut the number of children’s centres and another is on increasing the cost of the KCC Travel Saver card for secondary school pupils from £450 to £600.
Amendments were also unsuccessfully put forward to reduce the amount of funding being cut for voluntary health services and members’ grants, which can be spent on community projects.