Council tax rise on the cards in South Staffordshire
Residents in South Staffordshire could see a £5 increase in the tax they pay for district council services this year.
Councils across Staffordshire are currently preparing their budgets for 2021/22.
But they face several financial uncertainties, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and changes to business rates and how they are funded by central Government in the years to come.
South Staffordshire Council’s draft budget for the forthcoming financial year was backed by cabinet members at a meeting on January 5, alongside a draft Medium Term Financial Strategy for the next years leading up to 2026. The draft budget will now go out for consultation.
The council increased its precept – the proportion of tax paid for district authority services such as bin collections – by £5 in 2019/20 and 2020/21.
A report to Tuesday’s cabinet meeting said: “It is proposed that members are asked to make use of the flexibility to increase council tax by £5 and plan to contribute £404,000 to General Fund reserves in 21/22.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is a challenging context within which to manage resources and set budgets. That said, steps have been taken to manage and to monitor the financial implications of Covid-19.
“It must also be noted that as reported last year the future of the system of local government finance remains uncertain. The Government has committed to re-assess the baseline need for spend in each local authority through its Fair Funding Review.
“This has been pushed back – again – to 2022/23 at the earliest but is still expected to happen.
"This review will have a significant impact on the Government’s calculation of the Settlement Funding Assessment for – and therefore the amount of funding available to – this council and remains a strategic risk for the council.”
