Barnsley residents face extra £87 for yearly council tax bills as council approves budget
Rates are going up by 4.99% - after councillors approved this year's budget
Barnsley residents will pay an average of £87 per year extra for their council tax bills from April, after Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council rubber-stamped its budget proposals.
During a full council meeting today (February 27), councillors voted to approve the budget, which includes a 4.99 increase in council tax – just shy of the five per cent cap that local authorities are permitted to raise it by without holding a referendum.
The increase is set to help address a £15.1 million funding gap and ensure that essential services can continue amid rising costs and growing demand.
It will mean residents in Band D properties will pay an extra £87 per year, with their council tax increasing from £1,790.68 to £1,878.42.
The rise is made up of a two per cent increase to support adult social care and 2.9 per cent to maintain other vital services. Budget documents outline that this decision, while difficult, is necessary to prevent cuts to services that residents rely on.
One of the largest areas of investment is social care, with a total of £34.1 million allocated to manage rising costs. This includes £8.7 million for pay and inflation increases, £4.8 million for improvements in children’s social care, and £10.2 million to support adult social care services. Other key funding areas include £3.7 million for waste and fleet services, £900,000 for home-to-school transport, and £600,000 for homelessness and temporary accommodation.
In addition, the council is setting aside funding for new initiatives. The “Great Childhood Ambition” and “Community Enhancement” programmes will each receive £1.5 million for pilot projects. A further £5 million has been earmarked for a two-year pilot child travel concessions scheme.
Residents living in parishes across Barnsley will face varying rises in their parish council tax bills on top of the main increase, with Silkstone facing the highest rise of £66.37, and Billingley the smallest at £16.61 per Band D property.
Councillor Roy Bowser, seconding the proposals, paid tribute to the ‘resilience of Barnsley people in a deeply embedded cost of living crisis’.
Leader of the council Sir Steve Houghton CBE added that the budget was ‘the best budget in 15 years, maybe even longer’.
“No one wants to see council tax go up, least of all me. But the reality is, to keep the council financially sound we have to make sure that revenue base continues, whatever we spend it on. That is why we’re not in section 114 territory, or going for extra financial help from elsewhere, because we make those difficult decisions,” he added.
However, Councillor Hannah Kitching said that the increase in council tax was a ‘hard sell’ for residents who have not had their recycling bins collected so far this year.
Councillor Chris Wray, Liberal Democrat, also criticised plans to save £350,000 a year by dimming street lights across the borough.
“Residents have told me they do feel that Barnsley isn’t a very bright place, there are streets already where people feel unsafe. Sadly, this is across the country but it is something that we don’t want to be making worse,” he told the meeting.
“I firmly believe that no changes should ever come that either potentially or will risk or compromise anybody’s safety.”
Councillor James Higginbottom, cabinet member for environment and highways, said that community safety was at the ‘forefront’ of the authority’s plans.
He added that a £4m previous scheme to replace streetlights in the borough with energy-saving LED bulbs had saved the council £11m over the last ten years, as well as 6,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
“It is not the intentions of the highways service to go out and tomorrow and switch all the streetlights off in Barnsley. I can give you that guarantee.
“Professional highway engineers are continuing to explore options around how we can continue to achieve those savings, both financially and in terms of our energy consumption.
“Concerns about community safety are at the absolute forefront of what we’re doing in that process.”
“The waste service is not performing as effectively as it should be at the moment, and every effort is being made with professional officers to get the service back on track.”
The budget was passed following a vote, with 41 votes for and 13 votes against. Labour voted for the proposals with the Liberal Democrat opposition voting against.