How will the Nottinghamshire Council Tax hike affect you?

County Councillors have “reluctantly agreed” to a Council Tax hike of more than four per cent in a bid to tackle the “worst financial situation” Nottinghamshire has ever endured.
The average household will fork out an extra £50 a year after Nottinghamshire County Council rubber-stamped a proposed rise of 4.75 per cent at a budget meeting yesterday (Thursday. February 2). 
£22m in Government funding cuts and plans to save £241m in a “battle to balance the books” have been cited as reasons for the increase.
An extra £14.8m will also be spent on social care services as "demand from an aging population" continues to increase in tandem with extra costs. 
Nottinghamshire Police's element of the council tax will rise by 1.95 per cent.

Councillor Alan Rhodes, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Since 2009/10 the spending power for local government has reduced by 29 per cent.
“I am told there is no precedent for that in modern times – and I can believe it. 
“We have been faced with the worst financial situation this Council has ever endured, with a double whammy of large cuts to funding for local services by the Government, together with rising demand for our services.
“Nevertheless, I believe we have responded in a mature and transformative way by trying to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented circumstances and I’m proud of our track record.
“Nobody likes raising taxes – it is never popular and we have tried every other means of squaring our finances but the brutal truth is that the alternative is worse – cuts to our libraries, children’s centres, youth centres, country parks, highways and much more.”
“Despite identifying £241m in savings since 2010, our financial projections show there is still much to do, with even less money from Government and more demand with uncertainties around how a new system of Business Rates retention will work.
“However, we cannot allow the scale of the task ahead to be at the expense of quality or at the expense of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Instead, we will seek further ways to redefine our council and our services and will continue to maximise every opportunity for efficiencies and to raise income.”

The increase is made up of a three per cent social care levy and 1.75 per cent increase in Council Tax – the amount expected by Government in lieu of any additional funding for social care.
The County Council also confirmed plans to use £27m from its reserves to help protect other services from further cuts, such as road repairs, children’s centres, street lights, public transport and trading standards. However, reserves are a temporary solution and can only be used once. 

Conservative councillors have raised concerns about the impact the increase will have on Nottinghamshire.
Conservative Group leader at Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Kay Cutts, said: “I think residents understand the increasing demands on front-line adult social care and will support a 3 per cent Council Tax increase specifically to protect those services, but Labour are wrong to demand an extra 1.75 per cent, given that Nottinghamshire is the highest charging Council in the country and Council Tax payers are hard-pressed already.”
“We froze council tax for four years when we were in office, but since Labour regained control in 2013 there has been a Council Tax increase every year."

The Budget Report, which includes details about the Capital Programme and Medium Term Financial Strategy is available to download from Nottinghamshire County Council’s website at: http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/