Leeds proposes 3.99% council tax increase
0Leeds City Council has proposed raising council tax by 3.99% and cutting 74 jobs in its budget plans for 2019-20.
The council is facing a £24.3m deficit as a result of rising demand for adult social care services and cuts to central government funding.
It is proposing raising its council tax by 2.99% with an additional 1.00% adult social care precept.
Council leader Judith Blake said: “Raising council tax is never a decision we take lightly, but due to the funding cuts it helps make an increasingly important contribution and is being stretched more and more each year to pay for front-line services.
“And with people living longer, we need the additional adult social care element to help provide people with the support and services they need.”
The council will also increase the council tax premium on properties unoccupied for more than two years doubling from 50% to 100%.
In addition to its revenue-raising measures, the council is aiming to make £16m in savings.
Its budget proposals were released on 11 December, ahead of the provisional local authority settlement.
The latter was due to have been issued on 6 December, but its timing has fallen victim to political instability.
It was initially cancelled until after the Brexit vote due this week, which was itself then called off by Prime Minister Theresa May.
Leeds in the meantime is working on the assumption that its core government funding will be cut by 7.7%, or £15.3m, as established in its most recent four-year settlement.
If the assumption is right, Leeds’ core funding from central government will have been cut by 59% between 2010 and 2020, or by £266m.
Some of the pressure on its has come from Leeds also announcing that it will raise its minimum wage to £9.18 per hour, 18p above the Real Living Wage, and that it will reduce rents by 1.00%, except for tenants in PFI-funded homes.
The budget proposals will be discussed by the executive board next week and then go out for public consultation.
The fina lbudget will be voted by the council at the end of February.
