THE leader of Wokingham Borough Council has said that it has been forced to raise the levels of council tax as central Government slashes Wokingham’s grant to -£7million by 2020.
From April, Wokingham’s council tax will rise by 1.94% next year – an increase of 94p a week. But with due to the Chancellor’s austerity cuts, the council is warning that more savings will need to be made.
It adds that this is the worst four-year financial settlement in the council’s history and the transitional grant announced this week will only fill a gap for two years. By 2019/20, central Government is looking to offer a “negative grant of £7million”, a situation described as “almost impossible” and Wokingham is being penalised for “being an efficient and self-sufficient council”.
Councillor Keith Baker, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said: “By the end of 2019/20 we face almost impossible challenges as the council loses £20million and moves into a negative grant of £7million. By then the government ongoing grant will have been cut by 74%, and residents will be paying 91% of the costs of running services.”
Council tax in Band D will now be £1,295.31, a 94p/week increase and a 1.94% rise.
Speaking about the council tax rise, Mr Baker said: “We are facing some very difficult decisions, and will be forced to look at increasing our income. We are in effect being forced to put up council tax.
“Looking ahead, the future looks bleak because we face a total loss of government grant by 2019/20 and extra clawback of business rates to pay for the negative grant. It has never been more important to plan for the future.
“It’s been clear for some time that we cannot carry on doing things in the traditional way we’ve always done them.”
Mr Baker says that the council has set up seven companies, shared services with other councils and adapted council processes to ensure it is as efficient as possible.
He added: “We also continue to look at new and innovative ways of providing high quality services at the lowest possible cost. We are also working actively with our neighbours to see how we can work together more to provide services at a lower cost for us all.”
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