Gateshead Council tax to rise by 4.99%
The Council agreed the rise as well as £16m worth of budget cuts and savings last night.
Council tax bills across Gateshead are to rise by 4.99%
It's as the council's agreed nearly £16m of budget cuts and savings at a meeting on Thursday (22 February).
Gateshead Council’s ruling Labour administration passed a budget which aims to plug a potential gap of £49.5m by 2028/29.
The local authority’s budget has been cut by £15.8m this year and is accompanied by the maximum rise in council tax at 4.99% and a social housing rent hike of 7.7%
The new tax rises are comprised of a 2.99% council tax increase and a 2% rise in the adult social care precept. This equates to a £1.32 a week increase for the majority of council taxpayers in Gateshead in Band A properties and £1.99 a week extra for Band D households.
The average weekly “affordable” council rent is now up, on average, to £137.52 from £127.69 last year. Social rents are up from £90.37 last year to £97.33 now. For those in receipt of welfare or housing benefits, this increase should be met, according to council documents.
Among the budget efficiencies include a £400,000 reduction in the school meals budget but with “no impact” on the charges to schools. A total of £2,190,000 has also been shaved off with a review of social care service providers.
Vacant posts in the Gateshead’s libraries has also saved the council around £50,000. The council will also use £6.8m in reserves to balance the books this year.
However, the council’s leader Martin Gannon told fellow councillors that the budget had included provisions for the most vulnerable residents and still provided for “ambitious” projects.
Leader Martin Gannon said: “We are proposing to spend £113m in Gateshead’s economy, providing jobs and employment in Gateshead. £87m will be invested from the general fund and £26m in the housing revenue account, improving properties across Gateshead.
“We are proposing to invest a further £9.7m in Gateshead Energy Company. Basic Needs Funding, which is partly funding the expansion of Kingsmeadow School, is £12.8m.
“The Quays development, which we have all been involved in, and will continue as it is a challenging development, £87m.”
Mr Gannon continued: “Yes, these are desperately difficult times but Gateshead Council continues to be ambitious, we continue to have pride and we want to build a better future for the people of Gateshead.”
In addition, the council has set aside £2m for its most vulnerable residents who may see ‘Household Support Funding’ cease after March 2024.
Lib Dem opposition leader Coun Ron Beadle responded: “This Labour council has excuses where it should have ambition, strategies where it should have solutions, plans where it should have performance. And how did we get to this point?
“A Labour leadership that spends 50 years relying on the residents to pick up the tab for its own failures. My colleagues and I are telling you that these days are coming to an end and we are voting against this budget.”
Since 2010, Gateshead Council has seen a reduction in central Government financing of 68%, over £200m. This equates to the authority having £2,000 per household of spending power.