Medway: Increased council tax and parking charges
Medway Council have agreed its budget for the year ahead
Medway council have set their budget for the upcoming financial year, confirming they are increasing council tax to almost 5%.
The authority said mounting budget pressures have eased thanks to an effective loan of £14.7 million from the Government.
But councillors still agreed to a number of changes at the budget meeting, including increased parking charges and scrapping free swimming programmes for under-16s and over-60s.
Council tax
This will increase by 4.994% for the coming year to pay for services such as social care, waste collections, housing, and highways.
This equates to an increase of £1.61 per week for a Band D property, to a total of £1,754.69 per year (excluding amounts charged by parish councils, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and Kent Fire and Rescue Service).
Leader of the council, Cllr Vince Maple said:
“It is with a heavy heart that we have had to put up council tax, especially being well aware of the struggles many residents face in the current cost of living crisis, but we unfortunately had no choice to help protect the services residents need and value."
Social Care
Nearly three quarters of Medway’s budget has been allocated to services supporting Medway’s children and adults.
Despite this, the council have said "both Medway’s children’s and adults’ services continue to face significant financial challenges due to the soaring costs of providing these services alongside increased demand for them.
"And, despite welcome recent increases in national government funding for these services, it simply is not enough to cover costs."
New investment will go into the council’s Adult Social Care services to ensure sufficient staffing and greater use of assistive technology are in place to provide better services to Medway’s most vulnerable adults.
Council services
Councillors agreed to a number of changes at the budget meeting, including the closure of the Visitor Information Centre in Rochester, the introduction of car parking charges at country parks, increased parking charges across Medway and the removal of certain concessions for swimming at the council’s leisure centres.
Commenting on the changes, Cllr Maple said:
“We have always said we are prepared to take some painful and difficult decisions and tonight we have done just that, to start our journey towards financial sustainability. I would like to thank the residents of Medway for their support, for their recognition of the challenges we face and for their understanding that the decisions we have had to take are unavoidable if we are to make our journey a success.”