2018 is a few weeks old and it's already getting expensive.
Top-ranking county councillors are seeking to press ahead with further budget cuts as they propose an inflation-busting hike in local council tax bills.
Members of North Yorkshire County Council's ruling executive committee have today recommended that their precept – NYCC's share of the overall council tax bill – should increase by 4.99% from April 2018.
As the authority enters what it refers to as its 'eighth year of austerity', the council says it has already identified some £33.6million in 'savings' that will be will also be put to council top brass. This is on top of the £142million in budget cuts that the council says it has made since the start of the decade.
The proposed budget package includes an extra 2% that will go directly to support social care in the county, along with an additional 2.99% that will go into the council's general coffers.
The hike will need to be ratified at a full meeting of the council on 21st February, where senior councillors are likely to argue the increase is necessary to protect frontline services.
County Councillor Gareth Dadd, North Yorkshire’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, said: “I propose this council tax rise very reluctantly. We must do what we can to protect services for the vulnerable, the elderly and the young. They are fewer than, for example, those using the roads, but it is our duty to do the right thing by them in a civilised society. We must protect the vulnerable.
“On the other side of coin, we understand that with increasing demand for our services the burden of these costs is shifting onto the taxpayers. North Yorkshire pays more council tax, gets less government funding and has higher costs due to the delivery of services across England’s largest rural authority.
“The county’s taxpayers should be assured that we will continue our campaign for fairer funding from government for large rural areas like North Yorkshire. We will be making our voice heard at a national level.”
NYCC's precept accounts for the lion's share of our annual council tax bills with the remainder split between Selby District Council, the police, the county's fire service and a network of local town and parish council's across the area. Each organisation will set their own precept levels over the next few weeks.
