Worcestershire County Council proposes its council tax increase (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Worcestershire County Council proposes its council tax increase

1:48pm Tuesday 9th February 2010

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WORCESTERSHIRE County Council's cabinet has proposed a 2.5 per cent increase on council tax bills for 2010/11.

This would see bills for a Band D property rise by £25.34 to £1,039.06.

As well as paying for day-to-day services such as road maintenance, social care and waste management, there's also an additional £15 million for improving the condition of rural roads, £1 million to further improve safeguarding measures for children, £3 million for improving footways and £8.5 million for flood mitigation measures.

The council also has to find new funds for the Personal Care at Home Bill that could come into effect in October 2010. The bill compels local authorities to provide free personal care at home for those of greatest need. The estimated additional cost for this for the last six months of 2010/11 could be more than £1.5 million.

Councillor Adrian Hardman, cabinet member for finance, said: "Finances continue to be tight for us, even though we run a lean operation in Worcestershire. The budget we've prepared has also been shared with residents, businesses, unions and parish councils for their thoughts to ensure we continue to provide services that are deemed a priority.

"The Personal Home Care Bill has definitely altered our thinking over recent weeks. We'd already earmarked to put an additional £3 million into the adult social care budget, these new responsibilities means that amount will have to be considerably higher.

"We do not want to pass on all our financial issues to residents however and we've done our best to keep the increase as low as possible."

The budget will go to full council on February 18 for a final decision.

As well as the county council's share of the council tax bill, it will be added to by district councils, parish councils, West Mercia Police and Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

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