Annual budget includes another council tax rise
areas which will help people the most, whilst also maintaining continued investment in our services and our infrastructure.
“For 2023/24 we have been able to achieve this by investing an additional net £60.5m – equal to a 9.5 per cent budget increase – in order to ensure that our key services are not only maintained, but we are also able to continue to improve them, in order to achieve the best outcomes for our residents.
“A key part of our striving for the best outcomes for our residents is ensuring value for money for every penny we spend.”
Several councillors, though, questioned whether the administration understood how hard the cost of living crisis was hitting residents.
And many were not happy with the council tax increase, even though others understood why it was being imposed.
The £77.67 rise amounts to 4.99 per cent and will take the county council’s portion of a Band D bill to £1,633.41, with the increases from Sussex Police and the relevant district or borough councils also to be added.
Dawn Smith (Lab, Broadwater) said the budget was ‘a bit like La La Land’ to residents, adding: “What we present here in terms of budgets, plans, strategies really isn’t the reality of what they experience.”
Speaking after the meeting, Labour leader Caroline Baxter (Worthing East) said: “After 12 years of Tory austerity and mismanagement nationally and locally, the best
West Sussex Tories can offer is a maximum tax hike and balancing the books with no cuts.
“And they think that’s something to celebrate. I sometimes wonder how often they get out of County Hall.
“Residents I meet are at their wits’ end. The public sector is in meltdown, foodbanks are overwhelmed and people are really struggling.
“An additional 4.9 per cent will tip many over the edge.”
The struggle faced by many was highlighted in figures provided by leader Paul Marshall, who said that, up to December, the council’s Community Hub had helped more than 1,400 households.
On top of that, Citizens Advice gave some £600k in fuel support to 734 homes, while 18,200 children who were eligible for free school meals received £15 supermarket vouchers.
Mr Marshall said the council would provide a further £400,000 to Citizens Advice, with money also going to Age UK for food vouchers and work being carried out to help larger food-banks to buy food.
Amendments tabled by the opposition groups were branded as ‘tinkering around the edges’ by some Tory councillors.
Lib Dem leader Kirsty Lord proposed £1.2m of changes, including extra officers to work in areas such as Active Travel and climate emergency funding, and giving £200,000 of cost of living support to voluntary groups to support people in need.
Amendments from Labour leader Caroline Baxter also included cost of living support – namely using £100,000 from the Covid-19 Grant reserve to set up a fund to help voluntary, community and social enterprise support those in need.
Mrs Baxter also suggested using £3.8m for a road safety pothole and pavements fund.
Sarah Sharp, of the Green & Independent Alliance, made only one suggestion – to spend £500,000 on new paving in North Street and East Street. She supported the idea of hiring an Active Travel officer following the fiasco with the removal of the Shoreham pop-up cycle lane, which left the council unable to bid for money from that government fund. She branded the ongoing target to build 7.5km of cycle paths each year until 2024/25 ‘almost meaningless’.
None of the amendments were agreed, all being voted down.