Council tax to rise by 3.6%

OLDHAM residents are set to see their council tax bills rise by 3.6 per cent in April.

The council is proposing to increase its element of the bill by 3.7 per cent — an extra 66p per week for more than 50 per cent of Oldham residents in the cheapest Band A properties.

But the overall bill will rise by a slightly lower figure - because the amounts added to pay for police and fire services are expected to be smaller.

The fire service has already agreed a 1.99 per cent increase and the police is still to confirm its figure.

This will be the first council tax increase after a two-year freeze, and comes with a further £16.1 million of cuts to services — with a warning of millions more in the coming years as Government grants are slashed.

Two per cent comes from a new levy announced by the Government to help councils to meet the rising costs of adult social care, described by council leaders as an “Osborne tax”.

Any increase of above 4 per cent would have required the council to hold a referendum.

Deputy council leader in charge of finance, Abdul Jabbar, said: “We’ve frozen council tax for the past two years and are proposing this increase with a very heavy heart.

“Since last year the Government has scrapped a ‘freeze grant’ that was available to all local authorities that didn’t put council tax up. It has also now changed the way adult social care will be funded and this new model is responsible for a two per cent rise and places more responsibility on local taxpayers.”

He added: “We’ve found £176 million in savings from our budget since 2009 and last year alone had to find £35 million. This is, comparatively, much more than many other local authorities and has put us under constant financial pressure. At the same time our grant from Government has fallen, we are also facing increasing costs.

“Despite these challenges we’ve worked harder than ever to get value for money and haven’t resorted to ‘quick fix’ measures like mass closures of local libraries, community centres and children’s centres: we have actually invested in regenerating the borough.”

The budget proposals were agreed by the council’s cabinet last night, and are expected to be ratified by the full council on February 24.

Saddleworth Parish Council has already agreed not to increase its own precept, and Shaw and Crompton parish council has yet to decide. Oldham Council has assumed it will also be frozen.



New rates:

OLDHAM

Band A £1,107.05

B £1,291.55

C £1,476.06

D £1,660.57

E £2,029.59

F £2,398.60

G £2,767.62

H £3,321.14



SADDLEWORTH

Band A £1,119.95

B £1,306.60

C £1,493.26

D £1,679.92

E £2,053.24

F £2,426.55

G £2,799.87

H £3,359.84



SHAW/CROMPTON

Band A £1,117.12

B £1.303.30

C £1,489.49

D £1,675.68

E £2,048.06

F £2,420.43

G £2,792.80

H £3,351.36