People in Rochdale are facing a 5 per cent hike to their council tax bills - but the local authority could pay 2pc of it for them. Finance bosses had initially drawn up plans to put up bills by 3pc - warning that failing to do so would open up a recurring £2m gap on the balance sheet.
But the government later made it clear authorities were expected to implement a 5pc increase - including a 2pc rise to the ringfenced adult social care precept - if they were to maximise their ‘core spending power’. It means that a Band D household faces paying an extra £108.77 per year once increases to Andy Burnham’s fire and policing precepts - (£5 and £15 respectively) are added in.
This will take the average household’s bill up from £2,110.26 to £2,219.03 - about £9 more per month - from April, representing an overall hike of 5.15pc. However, to ‘ease the financial burden’ on residents, the council will automatically apply a 2pc discount across the board. It means Band A homes - which make up more than half the properties in the borough - would pay an extra £2.96 per month.
READ MORE: Fewer than 1 in 8 back council tax hike to help police – but it's happening anyway
The cost of the scheme is estimated at around £2.75million and will be paid for through reserves. Council leader Neil Emmott said despite the difficult financial situation the authority finds itself in, it was important to ‘have sympathy for our residents who are living through a cost of living crisis’.
He added: “The government has really given us no choice and is twisting our arm up our back, but by using our reserves to take some of that pressure off our residents. I hope we can also safeguard the services that are increasingly needed and which people expect to see provided for their council tax.”
The proposals were debated by a council scrutiny committee at Number One Riverside on Thursday night.
Coun Shah Wazir said the rise had to be implemented and then discounted so a hole was not created in future budgets in the way a freeze or reduction would. “As a council we were forced to increase council tax by 5pc and that was through the government’s direction - if we didn’t do that there would be a penalty for next year and the year after,” he said.
“Looking at this budget there’s a discount of 2pc, therefore the residents of our borough -at a time when we have high inflation, high cost of living and also high energy bills.”
Coun Wazir also took a swipe at energy giants Shell and British Gas for recording huge profits while people were struggling to pay their bills. “It’s sad in that respect, but I really respect the effort in this budget and offering a discount to local residents who deserve better at a very difficult time,” he added.
“I think there should be some equality and help for the most vulnerable people at this most difficult time - and I do welcome the discount.”
Coun Faisal Rana echoed his sentiments. He said: “It’s really good for this council not to pass on all the 5pc, otherwise people who are already struggling probably would have struggled more.”
If the proposals are agreed at the budget setting meeting in February, the discount is planned to be taken off bills before they are issued to households at the beginning of March.
Rochdale council’s budget corporate overview and scrutiny committee met at Number One Riverside on Thursday, February 2.
For more of today's top stories, click here.
READ NEXT:
- How detectives caught one of the UK's most wanted fugitives and secured justice years after gangland murder
- Police storm home and catch man red-handed
- 'My son didn't go to school for years. His case is the tip of an iceberg'
- BBC Happy Valley viewers have 'so many unanswered questions' after explosive finale
- 'If we fail, the NHS will fail' - the people on less than supermarket wages who could be the NHS' downfall
