Council Tax Payers Given A Helping Hand From County Council
EXCLUSIVE by DEBBIE DAVIES CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council has thrown hard-pressed householders in the district some help with their Council Tax as the recession begins to bite. The authority has announced today that its proposed 4.7 per cent increase in Co
EXCLUSIVE by DEBBIE DAVIES
CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council has thrown hard-pressed householders in the district some help with their Council Tax as the recession begins to bite.
The authority has announced today that its proposed 4.7 per cent increase in Council Tax has been reduced to 3.9 per cent, which means those in the average Band D band will face an increase of �38 instead of �46.
A spokesperson for the county council said the reasons for the decision were threefold.
"We have received a higher than expected amount of Council Tax from our district councils; pay inflation within the authority has been revised and reduced and we have seen some benefits from our own good financial management."
County, district and parish councils, fire, and police are all due to raise their slice of the Council Tax to safeguard essential public services.
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Police will decide how much to increase their proportion of your Council Tax by February 13.
"We think we'll be looking at around a five per cent increase," said a Police Authority spokeswoman. "It's historic underfunding in Cambridgeshire's case, but because of the three year funding settlement we found out about last year, we have been able to plan for it to some extent.
"We have same kind of pressures that the public face, such as rising energy prices, and police officers' pay is 2.6 per cent up so that takes a large chunk of the settlement."
Around 10 per cent of your Council Tax goes to East Cambridgeshire District Council, who upped their rates by 4.9 per cent - 0.1 per cent below the legal maximum.
Fred Brown, council leader said the rise was necessary and the council had already made more than �650,000 of budget cuts to try to cope with the recession.
"In setting this figure, I promise you we have tightened our belts as much as we can," he added. "The pressure is on us even more to provide the high quality services which people have the right to expect with real value for money."
Final Council Tax figures will be announced on April 1.
