COUNCIL tax bills in Redditch are likely to rise by four per cent next year after Worcestershire county council chiefs nodded through a £327 million budget.
The spending proposals, now set to go out to public consultation, were approved by the Conservative cabinet at County Hall yesterday (December 17).
If voted through next February, it means Redditch residents living in an average band D property can expect their council tax bill to rise by £42 a year.
This is before any possible increases from the borough council, police or fire service are factored in.
At the moment the council tax on a Band D property in Redditch is made up of: £217 for borough services, £1,079.77 for county services, £185.90 for police, and £76.50 for fire services.
The four per cent rise – or 3.94 per cent, to be precise – is a result of the Conservative leadership taking up the Government’s offer of raising council tax by two per cent to help pay for the rising costs of adult social care, and a further 1.94 per cent increase to raise extra cash for children’s services.
“This is quite a controversial rise for us,” said council leader Coun Adrian Hardman (Con, Breedon), but he claimed taxpayers’ bills in Worcestershire were still in the bottom quarter of all counties, and £160 less than residents pay in Nottinghamshire.
However, the leader of the Labour group at County Hall, Coun Peter McDonald Lab, Rubery), was scathing in response: “This budget is trying to hide the fact that there is £25 million worth of further cuts.
“I don’t know how council tax payers are expected to find the money for another four per cent rise.”
