THURROCK Council Leader, Cllr John Kent, has issued the following statement following the government’s Local Government Settlement announcements today (Thursday, 17 December).
He said: “We are still processing the information that has been released today, but – as in previous years – the headline reductions are misleading.
“What is without doubt is that our assumptions, considered by some as pessimistic, have proved to be largely accurate and funding for our residents has been considerably reduced once again.
“The government has also announced the ‘spending power’ of the council – the smoke and mirrors of the total amount they say we have to spend, but is built largely on assumptions..
“One of those assumptions is around council tax.
“The government is assuming we will raise council tax by a total of 3¾ per cent – that’s the two per cent care tax and 1¾ per cent on top of that.
“In previous years government has offered a council tax freeze grant sweetener equivalent to a one per cent rise, but this has now been scrapped.
“It seems that after five years of saying there’s no need to increase council tax, the government has changed its mind and now believes it needs to go up by 3¾ per cent every year of this Parliament.”
