Council tax to rise 3.99%
Local authority promising major investment to services despite having to make £3m in savings
Families in Sunderland will see the amount they pay for council services rise again after councillors signed off final budget plans.
City leaders agreed the 2020/21 budget on Wednesday, which includes a 3.99% council tax increase in line with Government referendum guidelines.
The rise is made up of a 1.99% rise in core council tax and a 2% Government levy to deal with mounting adult social care costs.
Band A properties, which make up nearly two thirds of all homes in Sunderland, will pay an extra 72p a week.
For council services, the benchmark Band D bill would increase annually by £56.41 to £1,470.09.
Figures will also be added for precepts–which the council collects on behalf of the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority and Northumbria Police – and extra parish precepts for some city households.
The rise comes as council bosses look to save more than £3million in 2020/21 with around £25million in further cuts needed by 2023/24.
Labour bosses said the authority has continued to protect key services despite “significant and disproportionate” Government grant reductions since 2010 – with savings of £315million already made over the period.
Although Government funding for 2020/21 is the first real terms increase in a decade, the city council has seen its spending powers reduce by a third.
Council leader, Coun Graeme Miller, said the 2020/21 budget was shaped by the views of residents and would protect the vulnerable.
“This is a positive budget, reflecting the confidence and aspiration I’m sure we all have – or should have – for our city,” he said.
Revenue spending plans include “enhanced city cleaning”, reducing the cost of household bulky waste collections, climate change schemes and tackling anti social behaviour, among other proposals.
The council’s planned expenditure on services for 2020/2021 is around £669.2million.
New investment spending of £270million has also been agreed, taking the capital programme to more than £450 million over the next four years.
Council bosses have previously called for urgent changes to the way councils are funded by Government to ease local pressures, with council tax only raising around 16% of Sunderland’s overall budget.
At the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Coun Paul Stewart stressed Sunderland’s council tax rate would remain the “cheapest and lowest in Tyne and Wear.”
Council leader, Graeme Miller, added: “The harsh fact is if we don’t raise council tax we will need to cut services further and not invest in services our residents tell us they need.”
Amendments to the budget were also submitted by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Conservatives called for a one-off reduction in general reserves, reduction in trade union facility time, moving the Sunderland Airshow to a biennial event and reducing councillor allowances – in a bid to raise around £2million.
Liberal Democrats aimed to raise just over £1.7 million in a range of proposals, including a review and reduction of special responsibility allowances for councillors and deleting Labour’s £1million carbon reduction fund.