‘Residents are being asked to pay more to get much less’
2.99% council tax rise approved despite objections
COUNTY councillors have agreed to increase the tax residents pay for services such as road maintenance and social care by 2.99 per cent – but not all members voted in favour of the rise.
Residents living in Band D properties will pay an extra 78p a week to Staffordshire County Council from April after budget plans were passed.
Four Labour members voted against the budget at this month’s full council meeting. But Conservative members questioned why an alternative budget was not presented.
Council leader Alan White said spending plans include £18million on new and expanded school buildings, £1m preparing for the arrival of gigabit broadband, £44m highway investment, £6m to tackle ill health caused by cold homes and £5.4m towards becoming carbon-neutral.
He said: “In the face of all the challenges and uncertainties of recent years, Staffordshire County Council remains a financially-stable authority with a balanced budget, able to invest in the long-term prosperity of our residents, while supporting those in need.
“In the next year we will oversee more than £350m of investment in the county, ranging from business development, skills training and town centre regeneration projects in partnership with district and borough colleagues to additional road repairs, school expansion and preparation for the next generation broadband.
“In the year ahead, work is scheduled to begin on the Chatterley Valley West site in Newcastle, which will create up to 1,700 jobs.
“Work continues on the Pets at Home national headquarters in Stafford and the i54 South Staffordshire extension, all creating jobs.
“There are also around £40m in public health programmes.”
More than £360m – almost two thirds of the budget – will be spent on social care.
The 2.99 per cent tax rise includes a one per cent increase specifically for costs of care for vulnerable children and adults.
Councillor White, left, said: “Supporting older people is an essential duty but the reality is that as more of us live for longer, the cost of that support is mounting and it is increasingly difficult for councils to sustain from local taxation.”
“The Government’s planned increase in National Insurance Levy is intended to support adult social care, but that money is being used for the NHS and we have to carry on funding from council tax.
“There has to be a long term solution to social care.”
Opposition group leader Councillor Charlotte Atkins said the Government had failed the authority and Staffordshire residents.
“Staffordshire is one of the most underfunded local authorities in England”, said Councillor Atkins, right.
“Yet, after waiting years for the Fair Funding Review, it seems no closer.
“Even an interim measure proposed by this council and others, to introduce a funding floor for councils like Staffordshire, is just a forlorn hope at the moment.
“The Social Care White Paper does nothing to restore the staffing crisis or the fragility of the care market.
“Then, to add insult to injury, our residents are being asked to pay twice for social care; once with the one per cent social care levy and secondly with the National Insurance hike.
“With two thirds of the county’s budget taken up by social care, everything else is squeezed.
“Our roads are plagued with potholes, yet the Government has delivered a 25 per cent cut in the highways grant. How does that make sense?
“Our residents are being asked to pay more to get much less. Therefore, I can’t support this budget.”