Council tax to rise by 4.98pc with funding at “breaking point!”

WARRINGTON’S Labour-controlled council has approved a 4.98pc council tax increase, just below the maximum 5pc allowed, despite opposition councillors voting against it tonight (Monday) at a virtual full council meeting.

With Labour’s finance spokesperson Cllr Cathy Mitchell saying council funding was at “breaking point” it means the average Band D household will see council tax rise from £1,777.02 to £1,863.16 towards the council’s £150m budget. The rise includes 3pc for an adult social care precept.
The Liberal Democrat opposition group along with Conservative Cllr Kath Buckley and independent Cllr Geoff Fellows, voted against it.

Lib Dem Finance Spokesperson Cllr Ian Marks said, “The country’s economic backdrop is grim with the biggest economic decline since the Great Frost of 1709. The Tories have presided over a greater fall in GDP than the USA, Japan and the Eurozone. Thankfully Warrington is in a better position than many other places to ride out the storm. The Government has thrown money at Councils but not enough to cover the extra costs of COVID. Much of the money is more to do with what is called ‘pork barrel politics’. Yet the pandemic has shown that successful outcomes are much more likely when local public services work together than when central government is in control.
“Promised government reforms have been kicked down the road. What happened to the Fair Funding Review, Business Rates reform and proper funding for social care? It is galling for the Government to give the impression they have given an extra 3% to increase social care funding. It is nothing of the kind. They have just pushed the extra cost directly on to council taxpayers.
“We accept the Council has to find innovative ways of generating income to pay for vital services. However we would like more of the investments to be in the Borough and provide a social benefit as well as an economic one. The investment in Redwood Bank is at the heart of why the 2017/18 Accounts have not yet been signed off. Should a Council be investing in a Bank? Together Energy is another controversial investment and we know that three other Councils have had major problems with energy investments. Why does a successful company like HUT want to borrow from us? Debt is forecast to increase to £2.3 billion at the end of 2023/24. This is more than £10,000 for every person in the town.
Alternative budgets from the Opposition are no longer possible. But I want to mention two issues of concern to many residents. The first is gullies and drains which become blocked with debris or leaves. The Council must find better operational ways of fixing these. Secondly getting a green bin licence is a nightmare for many elderly people. Apart from being discriminated against if they cannot do it on-line, delays on the phone can be terrible. What happened to the direct debit scheme I understood was being investigated?
Opposition Leader, Cllr Bob Barr added, “My Group will vote against this largely opaque Budget because there has been little attempt by the Administration to explain and justify its implications. Consultation has been minimal. We hear the mantra of ‘outcome based budgeting’ but outcomes are not defined nor monitored in a publicly acceptable way. I ask every member who does not in full conscience understand the decisions the Council is making, and the risks, to vote against or at least abstain.”
Outlining the Labour group’s budget Cllr Cathy Mitchell, Deputy Leader of Warrington Borough Council and cabinet member for Finance said that almost exactly twelve months ago Britain was brought to a standstill by the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said it had been ‘a huge challenge’ to set a balanced budget for Warrington in what are undoubtedly the most difficult times the town has faced in generations.
She commented: “Thanks to our prudent financial management, Warrington remains in a much stronger position than many other councils. We have invested in asset-backed projects, usually bricks and mortar, which have generated income for the council. We’ve chosen investments that help the community as well, such as our income-generating secured loans to registered Housing Associations to help these social landlords to build much needed social housing. Through careful stewardship, our investments have performed well, despite the economic circumstances created by COVID.
“We’ve worked hard to increase our income to protect vital public services. If we had not generated this additional income through our investments, we would have had to make severe cuts to these essential services. The Conservatives decry the Labour administration’s investment strategy, which must mean that they would prefer to have cut services widely – libraries, grass cutting, roads, bins, caring for our loved ones, supporting children in need. Which cuts would they have opted for first? Please ask them, although you might not get a clear answer.
“The background to this is that the Conservative government has cut funding to communities by slashing 60p in the £1 of central funding to local government since 2010. The Conservatives always cut public services and they will do that again if they are given the chance in Warrington. Warrington has now lost the equivalent of over £1800 of funding per household. We are one of the most poorly funded councils in the country and have one of the lowest council tax rates in the North West.
“We went into COVID, like most other councils, weakened by 10 years of austerity and with budgets already tightly stretched. The Government asked us to step up to do ‘whatever it takes’ to respond to the pandemic and we certainly did – staff right across the Council have worked their socks off. They promised to pay us back for the extra costs of COVID but they haven’t kept their promise and we will therefore have to make up the difference with reserves. The Conservatives have let the town down yet again.
“Adult social care and children’s services take up 70% of our budget. Council tax doesn’t even raise enough money to cover those continuing demands. For next year’s budget, we have a shortfall of £11.8m. The Government announced extra funding for adult social care – and then announced that most of it would have to come from council tax, passing the cost directly on to local tax payers. Like most councils up and down the country we have had no alternative but to put council tax up by 4.98% including the full 3% adult social care precept. That will generate an extra £5m to help maintain services – although the same percentage increase will produce a lot more money in leafy shires and wealthier areas with more high-value properties.
“Council funding is at breaking point. I call upon the Government to fund our community fairly. The Government talks a lot about “levelling up” – what this town now needs is a “leg up” financially from the government.”

Meanwhile, Warrington South MP Andy Carter (Con) commented: “We didn’t really need to listen to the speech from Warrington Labour, whatever they say, we know they’ll criticise Central Government and then say they want more funding… it’s like a broken record and when I have secured additional funds it disappears into a black hole with no explanation of where it has been spent. Warrington Council have had a real terms increase for the forthcoming year, the most generous increase in over a decade. With Warrington Labour, however much extra they’re allocated, it’s never going to be enough!”
“Councillors have tonight voted for to increase Council Tax by 4.98%, just under the maximum permitted at a time when family finances are under incredible pressure as a result of the pandemic. Many Conservative Councils around the UK have frozen Council Tax increases, particularly as the level of inflation is so low. When you look at Labour’s track record in Warrington over the last 5 years we’ve seen council tax locally go up by almost 30%, costing a family in a band D household around £360 more. At the same time we’ve seen important local services like the Broomfield Leisure Centre unable to operate because of the terrible state of repair.
“Labour’s economic policy was soundly rejected at the last general election, what’s happening in Warrington is a microcosm of what Jeremy Corbyn proposed, higher taxes, eye-watering levels of debt and cuts to local facilities. The Country rejected Corbyn’s magic money tree in December 2019, let’s hope they do the same to Warrington Labour at local election on the 6th May”.