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26
Jan 2022
North Yorkshire County Council plans £56 council tax hike
North Yorkshire County Council looks set to approve a 3.99% rise in its council tax demand, despite its leadership acknowledging numerous residents would struggle to afford the increase.
The council’s Conservative-run executive unanimously recommended that the authority sets a £56 rise in its precept for the average Band D property.
A final decision on the council tax bill will be made at a full council meeting in February.
It means average households will have to find £1,467 to pay for the council’s bill, alongside other expected increases by Harrogate Borough Council and police and fire services.
Several members of the executive highlighted the “cost of living challenge” facing residents, and the meeting heard the squeeze on household finances was forecast to tighten.
Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s executive member for finance, said the county council’s precept was “already behind the curve”, having increased by 33% over the past 11 years while inflation had risen by 38%.
He said he accepted that “there will be many that struggle” with the council tax rise, so the proposed rise would be 0.5 per cent less than the maximum the government would allow the authority to levy without holding a referendum.
Cllr Dadd said:
Read more:
- Harrogate council proposes 1.99% council tax rise in final ever budget
- In depth: Why Harrogate district residents can expect council tax rises
He said the proposed rise would enable the authority to be in the best possible shape ahead of the local government reorganisation transition to a unitary council while recognising the drain on the taxpayer.
The meeting heard sharp rises in demand for services such as children’s social care and increases in costs of providing adult social care had left the council’s finance bosses grappling with a decision over whether to “raid the reserves” or increase taxes to limit its deficit.
The executive heard while freezing council tax would be “simply irresponsible”, setting a 2.99% rise would not be in the best interests of residents or the incoming unitary authority.
However, the meeting heard claims from councillors that the authority’s recent past had seen it make a number of politically difficult decisions, putting the interests of residents in the medium term above popularity.
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