A 5.9% council tax rise has been proposed by Brighton and Hove City Council’s minority Green administration.
The move comes just months after local Labour and Conservative councillors quashed plans for a 4.75% council tax rise.
Plans for the levy hike form part of council efforts to recoup a £25m budget shortfall over the coming year.
Brighton and Hove Greens today branded the 1.99% council tax rise approved by councillors in March ‘reckless’, claiming the move had lost city services over £10m.
‘Council budgets have unfairly borne the brunt of the government’s cuts. Still we are committed to delivering essential public services for our citizens,’ council leader, Jason Kitcat said.
‘However to do this we do need to raise council tax to ensure those services can keep going as demand continues to grow while budgets shrink.’
While Government rules require a local referendum on any council tax rises at 2% or above, the Green Party claims funds could be saved by holding the vote on the 5.9% hike on the same day as elections already planned for May 2015.
Lead member for finance, Ollie Sykes, appealed to local Labour councillors to avoid using ‘Tory rhetoric to try to block this proposal’.
‘It would be great if Labour voted with us on this, to show that they really are committed to providing frontline services,’ Sykes added.
‘If they had voted with us in previous years we could have had an extra £10m to inject into public services. They have a chance now to show the people of Brighton and Hove that they care.’