Huntingdonshire District Council plans council tax increase

The authority is proposing to increase its share of the council tax bill by 3.21 per cent in the coming financial year.

This will mean people living in a Band D household will pay £5 more to the district council a year.

This is the maximum the authority is allowed to increase council tax before needing to call a referendum.

Councillor Sarah Conboy, leader of the district council, said difficult decisions have been made that have “proved prudent” to keep the authority in a sustainable position.

She highlighted that some other councils in the country were facing having to issue Section 114 notices, effectively declaring themselves bankrupt.

Cllr Conboy said in this ‘difficult landscape’ the district council had been able to set a balanced budget and had a “sound” medium term financial strategy.

She said: “We are in a good position, but it has not been an easy position to maintain because of the financial pressures that come from central government funding and the inevitable slow growth demand for services.

“We are forward planning and we are in a sustainable financial position, but there are still risks and we must not be complacent.

“It would be unwise to make short term populist decisions at the risk of being financially unstable in the next four to five years.”

Councillor Brett Mickleburgh, the executive councillor for finance and resources, said inflation played a big part in the district council’s decision to propose increasing its share of council tax by the maximum amount.

He said the authority was still facing high day to day costs and said: “The increase just about keeps us up, it does not allow us to close the gap on anything.”

Cllr Mickleburgh also said central government was not helping the district council to plan for the future by only offering a one year financial settlement.

He said not knowing how much money the district council would receive in future years made it difficult to make strategic decisions.

However, he said the current proposed budget for 2024/25 was a “strong budget” and said it put the authority in a “good place” to keep providing services for people in the area.

Cllr Conboy said other decisions taken by the district council, such as introducing a charge for garden waste collection later this year, were also made to support the authority’s sustainability.

She said: “The opposition is likely to say ‘the green bins charge, we would not have done it’.

“We made that decision around financial sustainability, it is a concern for the public, but when you look at the medium term financial strategy it is what enables us to have a balanced budget in the years four to five period.”

The proposed council tax increase and draft budget will be scrutinised by councillors at a meeting next week (January 31).

Final approval of the budget will need to be made by the full council, which is due to meet on February 21.

The final council tax bill people receive will be made up of contributions towards different authorities in the area including the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, district and city councils, town and parish councils, and the police and fire services.

People on the lowest incomes in Huntingdonshire will not have to pay council tax in the coming financial year for the first time.

Last year the authority approved a new council tax support scheme that included a 100 per cent discount for the poorest in the district.