The council has brought in a 4.2 per cent increase, which was seen as the lowest practical figure after yet another tough settlement from government. East Sussex got the worst percentage increase of any county for next year, the worst this year and the second worst the year before.
The increase was £11.7 million but £10.2 million is automatically earmarked for schools. This means 0.6 per cent extra (£1.5 million) for all other services including transport and social services.
"This figure doesn’t even cover inflation so the choices open to the council were severely limited,” said Councillor Tony Reid, lead member for corporate resources. "Residents told us that they wanted council tax kept low so we have done this by our continuing drive to be extremely efficient and by ensuring that we protect core services, as far as possible. If we had even received the average increase we could have set a council tax increase of just 2.2 per cent.
"We are under enormous pressure but we have still managed to put more money into caring for older people. We already have one of the highest numbers of people over 65 in the country and this figure is growing, yet the government settlement takes no account of this factor. On top of this we also need to meet rising costs in other areas, for example tackling fear of crime, dealing with waste and road maintenance.
Councillor Reid concluded: "We are committed to put extra funding into the priorities that the public tell us are important, protecting front line services as much as we possibly can while keeping council taxes as low as possible. This is a difficult balance to strike. We are also absolutely determined to continue lobbying government to get a fairer deal for the county in the longer term. Indeed we have asked the local government minister for a meeting several times, but he is refusing to see us.”
Notes to editors
The government grant for East Sussex County Council next year is £296.4 million and the council’s overall revenue budget is £489.6 million.
The increase announced refers only to the county council. District and borough councils and the police and fire will announce their own increases separately.
The council tax rise of 4.2 per cent means that band D householders will pay £958.95.
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