Council tax bills in Cheshire East are likely to go up by 4.99% this year after a vote by councillors to recommend the increase.
The rise is the maximum the local authority can impose after the government refused its recent request to hike up bills by 9.99% earlier this week.
If the 4.99% is agreed by full council at the budget-setting meeting on 26th February, this will see its part of the council tax bill rise to £1,882.04 per year for a Band D property.
Other precepts – such as the police, fire service and town and parish councils – will be added on top of that.
Five Conservative councillors voted against recommending the proposed 4.99% increase.
One of them, Cllr Chris O’Leary, said: “I think it’s welcome news that the government has refused the request to increase the council tax by 9.99% but it’s also the case that 4.99% is still double the rate of inflation.”
He said the increase would disproportionately affect those on council tax benefit and low earners in the borough.
Deputy leader Michael Gorman (independent) said: “If you look at inflation over the last four years council tax has not kept pace with it by any means.”
He said compared with neighbouring areas, Cheshire East Council had a relatively low council tax.
“You can’t have good services when you don’t have enough money, so you’ve got to have a fair council tax to provide good services,” Cllr Gorman said.
He added that Cheshire West and Chester Council had a higher council tax and because of that they received about £15m per year more for core spending.
Inflation pressures
Cllr Gorman added: “There seems to be collective amnesia in parts of this council about why we are here and that’s because the council between 2009 and 2019 [under Conservative control] decided not to keep pace with inflation and decided to go for the easy option.”
Conservative group leader Janet Clowes said the council tax freezes of 2011 to 2015 were the result of an election manifesto promise to adjust for earlier rises.
She said council taxes had been raised “excessively” under Labour’s time in government and that they “far exceeded” inflation rates at the time.
She added during that five-year period, the council was given compensatory grants from central government.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith (independent) said the Conservative government had capped council tax last year at 5% while inflation was almost 12%.
“They dodged it because of the election coming up and it did them no good at all,” he said.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t been able to recoup that this time either.”
He added the council couldn’t cut its spending any more and without the 9.99% increase they had asked the government to allow, the only way was to borrow money.
Cllr Goldsmith said the interest on the borrowing would cost £20m over the duration of the loan.
Follow So Cheshire on Facebook, Threads and Instagram. You can also email cheshire@so-counties.co.uk with your story ideas or to enquire about advertising opportunities.
