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Promoted by Ginny Heard on behalf of Mid Sussex Conservatives, 5 Hazelgrove Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3PH |
Mid Sussex
council tax still third lowest in Sussex Conservative councillors have approved a District Council budget which keeps Mid Sussex council tax the third lowest in Sussex. This year's rise of 3.5% equates to 9.5p a week to a band D homeowner. The Council will not be cutting services, and is planning for significant financial savings in addition to improvements in services. Councillors also agreed to freeze parking charges for the first hour so results will still pay 60p. Liberal Democrat councillors proposed a budget alternative minutes before the Council meeting, which proposed cutting budgets by more than their total worth, double counting savings already budgeted and raiding the reserves by £500,000 to fund the resulting black hole. Cllr Gordon Marples, Leader of the Council, says: "This has been one of the most challenging budget setting processes we have had in recent years. The wider economic context has posed challenges that were barely imagined a year ago "When Council met to approve next year's budget and service plans, much of the debate focused on the proposed increase to parking charges. Late in the day, the Liberal Democrat group tabled proposed amendments to freeze parking charges, which would have resulted in service cuts and the use of a substantial amount - about £500,000 - of the Council's modest reserves" "These amendments were defeated and the recommended budget was approved, including changes to our car parking tariffs, which will become effective in mid April" "Our car park charges have not been changed for over four years but we have listened to local traders and kept prices in the critical first hour to 60p, which is low by any standards. A modest increase of 20p has been agreed for the one to two hours parking period, so in all our car parks drivers only need to spend a maximum of £1 to park for two hours. We know that 80% of the drivers using our car parks stay for two hours or less, so the vast majority of users will be faced with a very small increase and many - about 48% - wont see any change at all" "The final budget has allowed us to keep Council Tax as low as possible while protecting and maintaining all our current front line services." West Sussex County
Council has agreed the lowest ever council tax increase of 3.25%.
Despite receiving, for the seventh year in a row, the lowest possible grant
funding from central Government in the entire country, councillors have made
£40million in efficiency savings in the past three years. |
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