Council tax bills in Wokingham will rise by 4.99% from April.
Councillors voted last night (Thursday) to approve the increase as part of its annual budget, to address what it said are ongoing financial pressures and low Government funding.
A spokesperson said: “This is the standard increase expected by the government, and the same as most councils not in immediate financial crisis, where it’s gone up much more.
“This means Council Tax for the average Band D property (excluding precepts for fire service police and the average parish council) will be £1,931.04.
“This is an increase of £7.65 per month on last year..
Wokingham Borough has the lowest funding level in Berkshire, and it receives the lowest annual Government grant per person towards services of all unitary authorities in the country
“More than 60% of our running cost goes on adult and children’s services, looking after our most vulnerable residents, with most of the rest funding environmental services like road maintenance and waste and recycling collections.”
Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, executive member for finance, said: “It is only through efficiencies and income generation that we have managed to set a balanced budget once again.
“Most of our money goes on helping adults and children with social care needs – physical disabilities, learning difficulties, mental health problems and the issues that come with old age.
“For, I would hope obvious reasons, we prioritise those areas.”
“The budget also agreed a significant ongoing investment in new facilities and improvements, such as the Gorse Ride redevelopment, care homes, new and expanded schools, the Covid Memorial Wood, solar farms, new roads, sport and leisure provision, affordable housing and improvements at California Country Park.
“In total, the capital investment commitment over the next three years is £483 million, which is funded by contributions from housing developers, grants and prudent borrowing.
“People are sometimes surprised that we can invest in major capital projects while being so short of revenue funding, but that is due to the different way these things are funded – we can only use money from developers or capital grants for specific projects not to pay for ongoing services.
“It is also true that some of the capital projects are investments that will generate income in the longer term.”
