Council tax to rise in Gloucester
City Council chiefs have approved a 2.99% hike.
Gloucester households are facing rising bills from April as City Council chiefs have approved a 2.99 per cent tax hike.
However a Liberal Democrat move to increase parking charges has been thwarted by the opposition.
Gloucester City Council voted last night (February 27) to approve a more than £15m revenue budget for the next financial year.
This means the proportion of the council tax bill which pays for City Council services for a band D property will be £237.04 up from £230.16 in the current financial year.
The total tax bill households receive will also include Gloucestershire County Council, police and parish council charges.
Shire Hall agreed last week to increase their proportion of tax for a band D property bill by 4.99 per cent to £1,679.65.
Gloucestershire Constabulary’s precept is rising by 4.5 per cent.
In Quedgeley, residents will also have to pay for town council costs. For a band D property this will be £44.06 for band D properties.
Councillors have also approved a £45.9 million capital programme spending over the next five years for major projects such as Kings Quarter, GL1 and Oxstalls, improvements to the crematorium and museums.
Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said the budget will ensure the authority remains solvent.
He highlighted the drop in the Government grant for local government in recent years.
“It’s down 29 per cent in ten years on the money we are getting from the government from ten years ago,” he said.
“I was particularly disappointed, I was looking to a new government being more generous to Gloucester City Council.
“The bottom line of the budget is that there is no additional funding at all. That has made it difficult to fund some of their projects in future.
“In the end, the most important thing is that we have a balanced budget. We are working on a 2.99 per cent council tax rise.”
He said he would not be able to freeze council tax, parking, and green waste charges as requested by opposition councillors.
And finance cabinet member Declan Wilson (LD, Hucclecote) said the council is facing continued difficult times.
He said it has been the case for several years, particularly for district councils.
“Things are getting incredibly tough,” he said.
He said they were disappointed that the new Labour government announcements last year on funding for councils did not amount to “huge rises for districts”.
“That’s where we are and we have to live with that,” he said. “It is in real terms a cut. But that’s the way it is. We have to continue to find further efficiencies.”
He said he expected costs from bringing post inhouse, digitalisation, £65,000 from second home council tax charge, £120,000 reduction on pension scheme backfunding costs.
More income from the Forum tenants of £4m and £50,000 from the Food Dock.
Conservative group leader Stephanie Chambers (C, Quedgeley Fieldcourt) said the Lib Dems had been working on the previous Tory administration’s sound budget.
She presented an amendment on behalf of her group and was pleased that their proposal to spend around £110,000 on a second weed ripping machine to be taken on by the Lib Dem administration.
And they accepted they would reallocate £60,000 from third party contracts to fund extra employee costs to clean and clear up the city.
Cllr Chambers also said they wanted to see the funding for more officers and were hoping this would keep the city clean to the standards they deserve.
“We want less bureaucracy and more action,” she said. “We all want a pleasant place to live.”
She said she was concerned about the projected income of £4m for the Forum and questioned its accuracy.
“I do genuinely worry about that,” she said.
The Lib Dems also accepted the Tory suggestion to employ an extra environmental crime officer and the money plan has been changed to add an extra cost of £60,000 and £30,000 income.
The Conservative proposal to axe the charge for damaged wheelie bins, which is estimated to cost £20,000, was voted through with support from Labour and the Community Independents while the Lib Dems abstained.
Labour proposals to buy CCTV cameras and employ an extra officer to tackle fly tipping hotspots were agreed by the Lib Dems who will add £5,000 to their budget to pay for them.
They say the cost of an extra environmental crime officer is adjusted for in the suggestion they accepted from the Tories.
Labour councillors also asked for an increase in funding to the city’s Citizens Advice Bureau to provide more housing advice and to assist in preventing homelessness.
The Lib Dem leadership agreed to set aside £30,000 of additional funding of a housing advice service provision by an external third party following a procurement process.
Labour group leader Terry Pullen (Moreland) said he too has witnessed cuts to local government over the last ten years.
He said it was unfair to blame the new government which has only been in place for seven months.
“I think we need to give this Government a chance,” he said.
He said the City Council’s budget was the Lib Dems to manage.
And after nine months of their leadership, the council was facing a budget overspend of £230,000
“The first thing you did was to increase the number of cabinet members,” he said. This was an extra £24,000 into the budget, he added.
Cllr Pullen said the previous Tory administration had enough cabinet members to do the work.
Cllr Pullen also criticised the decision to sell properties which had been bought for emergency housing.
“At the same time there were 300 homeless people looking for housing”, he said. He also criticised their decision to pull the corporate plan.
A Labour proposal to freeze the increase in car parking charges was successful with the support of the Conservatives and Community Independents.
The Lib Dems opposed the move while Cllr Rebecca Trimnell (Westgate) abstained. The car parking charge freeze will cost £85,000.
This means car parking charges across the city will not be going up in April. And the Community Independent Group proposals for the installation of free drinking water refill points around the city centre and the Quays were also agreed.
This means £10,000 will be set aside to provide free drinking water fountains. They also agreed to install a green gym in Matson, Robinswood and White City.
This is estimated to cost £35,000 as well as spending £15,000 on refurbishing a play area in Grange ward.
Cllr Alastair Chambers (Community Independents, Matson, Robinswood and White City) thanked the Lib Dems for accepting his group’s amendments.
But he said he was worried that the overspend would cost the same as freezing council tax.
Cllr Chambers, who voted to increase council tax at Shire Hall, said a City Council tax freeze would give economic relief for people struggling with bills and would help boost local businesses.
“It’s not a lot of money but would make a big difference to people who need it,” he said.
His group also proposed freezing the increase the cost for garden waste bins. To fund this, £40,000 will be taken out of the environmental reserve.
“I do ask that you think of those struggling in our city,” he said.
Cllr Wilson said the overspend is due to spending £500,000 on refurbishing car parks in the city.
But they are only projected to have a total overspend of £230,000.
He said freezing council tax would be a “mad notion”.
“It would give people in a band D property 50p extra a month in their pocket,” he said.
But the council would lose out on £190,000 for years to come, he said.
“It would literally bankrupt us,” he said.
“We are one cyber incident away from bankruptcy as a result of the decision taken tonight.”
These proposals to freeze council tax and garden waste costs were rejected.
The substantive budget was approved by 23 votes with 12 abstentions.
The budget received the backing from Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors while the Conservatives and Community Independents abstained.