Published on:
08
February 2007
Clackmannanshire Council has agreed a Council Tax increase of 1.9% for the year ahead.
Councillors agreed the increase at today's full council meeting. The new level represents an increase of £21 a year - or 40 pence a week - for someone with a property in Band D.
The small increase in Council Tax includes the 1% set aside for the building of three new secondary schools through the PPP project.
The Council's expenditure will be over £92million for the year ahead which is over £2000 for every person in Clackmannanshire. In return for an average Council Tax rise of 40p a week, people will receive over £4 of extra services each week.
Council Leader Margaret Paterson said: "This is the last budget I will set as Council Leader and I am pleased that we have been able to keep council tax increases at a minimum. I am pleased to say that we have been able to allow for growth in some areas, including recruiting another 9 teachers and investing in reducing class sizes."
Other growth identified in the budget included:
Keir Bloomer, Chief Executive of the Council said: "We have had to budget for several additional expenditures for the year ahead. These include additional contributions to the Fire, Police and Valuation joint boards which represent an increase of 4.7% on the current budget, well above inflation. A further £400,000 - on top of the £400,000 agreed last year - has also been set aside for the cost of Single Status.
"However, thanks to our prudent budgeting in the last few years we have been able to fund the costs of Equal Pay entirely from our reserves, something not all councils were able to do."
The Council has also benefited from the housing boom, with more homes paying council tax than ever before.
Councillor Paterson said: "This does not mean it has been an easy budget, far from it. Were it not for more than £2million in additional money from the Scottish Executive we would not have been able to bring the budget in on target without far greater cuts and damage to front line services. The Council is unlikely to receive the same windfall next year which obviously concerns me greatly. "
Councillors also agreed a 4.5% increase on council house rents, an increase of 2% plus an inflationary rise based on the September figures. That will bring rents to £49.30, an increase of £2.12 on the current figure of £47.18 a week.
"Our rent levels are still well below the Scottish average," said Councillor Paterson.
"In reaching our decision on the increase we worked closely with the tenants federation. The tenants themselves told us what their priorities were for investment in council housing in future years in our housing stock survey. Their priorities included full external door, kitchen and bathroom replacement programmes. This increase in rents will allow us to work towards delivering these improvements to tenants' homes."
Ends
Note: Current council tax (excluding water and waste charges over which the council has no control) on a Band D is £1,127. It will increase to £1,148 a year.
Full Council Tax charges table