28 November 2012

Brighton to cover £20m shortfall with council tax hike


James Evison

A shortfall of £20m in funding could mean Brighton and Hove Council increasing council tax by 2% - alongside shedding 150 jobs – it has been announced.

It the Green-run local authority’s annual draft budget for next year, it said an additional 43p a week could be added to a band D property in the area.

The party claimed the increase was required to meet a shortfall created from a reduction in government funding and increased demand for certain services. Tory opposition councillors have rejected the move and called for a freeze.

Leader of the council, Jason Kitkat, said the move would protect essential services and described the 43p a week increase for an average household as a ‘fair contribution’.

But the Tories claim the shortfall has been created by services being more expensive than in other authorities, and that a government grant offered by the DCLG for councils freezing tax should have been taken up by the local authority.



Your comments

Hi Stephen - the figures quoted are for a year (the councils's budget for 2013/14). The council will also have to take other measures to meet the ?20m gap but these are yet to be announced. Watch this space...

Laura Sharman, Editor www.localgov.co.uk, Added: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 03:49 PM

Not often I support the Green's but the cynical erosion of the council's tax base has been rumbled even in Tory Surrey, but when quoting savings figures please state the time frame you can't save ?20m a year by increasing CT by 2% and cutting 150 jobs, possibly three years?

Stephen Reimer, Added: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 03:32 PM

Increasingly even Tory authorities recognise the dangers of a continuing freeze and will be putting council tax up next year - as some have done this year.

Patrick Newman, ex local government,Stevenage, Added: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 03:10 PM



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