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| Council’s finances “challenging”, says its leader, Eileen Blamire |
Lancaster City Council will increase its portion of Council Tax by around 2% for 2014/15, helping to protect services in the short term.
In real terms this means households will pay an average (based on a Band D property) of an extra £3.91 or so a year – or 8p a week – to the city council from April 2014.
As 80 per cent of the district’s homes are in the lowest bands (A to C) the actual increase will be even lower than 8p a week for the majority of households.
Councillor Eileen Blamire, leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “The council’s financial position continues to be extremely challenging.
“The Government has already substantially cut the money it provides us to run our services and we expect to face further reductions in the future.
“By next February alone we have to address a budget shortfall of £2 million, and if we want to try and protect vital frontline services, a modest increase in Council Tax is necessary.”
While as the billing authority Lancaster City Council collects Council Tax, it only receives around 13% of the total bill to spend on its services.
Excluding parishes, of the remaining bill, the majority goes to Lancashire County Council (73%), with precepts from Lancashire Police Authority (10%) and Lancashire Combined Fire Authority (4%) making up the rest.