Calderdale councillors back budget including 4.99% tax rise
The council needs to save £3 million over the next financial year
Calderdale residents will face a 4.99 per cent rise in their Council Tax bills for the next year – the maximum allowed without requiring a local referendum.
A majority of councillors agreed to adopt the ruling Labour group’s proposals, which Deputy Leader Coun Scott Patient called a difficult transitional budget against a backdrop of years of underfunding and challenges including spiralling costs of funding social care.
The council needs to save £3 million in 2025-26 and the approved £249 million budget will also see some reductions in services and rises in some charges, including for removing bulky waste and garden waste, and increased parking charges in some areas.
But not all charge increases will fall on residents, with proposals to start charging any works promoter digging up the roads for the days these occupy the highway.
Coun Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said his group’s Cabinet-recommended budget balanced the books, had resilience to withstand shocks and changes and fixed the foundations for the future.
He said every mechanism was being used to balance the books, including Calderdale “punching its weight” in bringing in money from Government and West Yorkshire Combined Authority to pay for capital schemes, making changes by going digital, reducing the employee count, going green to save on energy costs for vehicles and street lighting, selling services to other organisations, and selling buildings and land or transferring them to local organisations for community benefit.
“This hasn’t been easy and we look forward to brighter times ahead.
“I commend this responsible, sustainable and serious budget to the council,” he said.
Increasing Council Tax by the maximum amount – 2.99 per cent with an extra two per cent ring-fenced for social care – was a major debating point.
Alternative budgets from the Conservatives and Greens, which were voted down, sought lesser rises, 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent (but only in 2027-28, as a “first step” to lower rates) respectively.
Conservative group leader Coun Steven Leigh (Ryburn) said his group’s budget tried to: “Give a little bit of hope back to Council Tax payers in Calderdale.”
He said currently: “It’s difficult for the people of Calderdale to understand quite what goes on – they just have to pay, and they just have to get less services.”
Proposed parking charge rises would not be taken forward, funding for Christmas trees and lights would be reintroduced and at least one new primary school in new garden communities being built near Brighouse would be budgeted for, said Coun Leigh.
Reducing the council’s senior management and workforce size, reviewing spending and looking into commercialisation opportunities, would make the needed savings, the Conservatives argued.
These assertions were challenged by Labour who argued in the case of both Conservative and Green staff reduction proposals that they were not clear exactly which posts would be cut and directorate heads already had to justify replacing staff.
Senior Labour councillors said community groups were encouraged to take on levied.
Research showed building a new primary school at Brighouse was not economic at this time and could put at risk the future other schools whose rolls were low – if need was later identified land was being retained there to build new ones, they argued.
Presenting his group’s amendment, Coun Martin Hey (Green, Northowram and Shelf) said the council faces two crises – financial and the relationship between the Council Taxpayers and the council itself.
“It’s difficult to imagine any residents would support any budget that incorporates a rising Council Tax above the rate of inflation,” he said.
Green proposals included no cuts to recycling and highways spending, investing £400,000 a year to combat climate change and two Council Tax elements, a reduction to 4.5 per cent in 2027-28 and, from 2026-27, reversing Labour’s increase in Council Tax that has to be paid by low income households, which is coming in for 2025-26.
Labour responded it was making key climate change progress.
The Council Tax rise was also a major issue for other groups.
Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Paul Bellenger (Greetland and Stainland) said they understood decisions were difficult but: “Such decisions may benefit residents while others may cause people to fall deeper in debt.
“It is how we support those affected that show we are running an efficient and effective authority – if we fail them, then we are not the authority we should be.”
Coun Dan Sutherland (Reform, Illingworth and Mixenden), newly defected from Labour, said there were choices to be made and referenced arguments particularly around reducing using consultants, as raised in the Green proposals.
“I’m very disappointed by the choice being presented by Labour – target the most vulnerable and don’t tackle the vested interests which are holding this council back,” he said.
But Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden), Cabinet member for Resources, said Labour’s budget aimed to balance need to fund the two big social care directorates – adults’ and children’s services – with preserving public-facing services residents think should be funded but which did not seem to go up in line with Council Tax rises – these were tensions other authorities whatever their political stripe were struggling with.
She warned there was a cost to residents ahead if the maximum Council Tax increase was not made, now being shown by councils which had not raised it every year in recent times.
“Those councils who have not raised Council Tax to the maximum every year end up falling behind and it is some of those that have now had to take up exceptional financial support.
“We need to be absolutely clear about what that means – it means that a council can borrow to fund revenue, so building up debt which then has to be paid off by the Council Tax payer, often by having higher than average Council Tax rises,” she said.
Agency staff and specialised consultants were needed in certain circumstances, senior Labour councillors argued.