Council tax set to rise by 6.3%

The increase of about 6.32 per cent - more than twice the rate of inflation - is likely to be approved at the Council's budget meeting next month.

It will mean an increase of £42.78 a year to people in Band C for houses worth £52,000 to £68,000 a year, bringing the total payment to £719.65 a year.

The lowest band, Band A, will go up by just over £32 a year, while people in the highest band, Band G, will pay more than £80 a year.

It is understood it has already been accepted by the Labour Group at a private meeting.

The Council is also likely to make £1.9 million cuts in areas still to be decided.

The move comes after the council did not get the expect finance settlement they wanted from the Government and there will be a knock on effect from the recent teachers' pay increases.

Council leader Ian Greenwood had predicted a 4.5 per cent increase in council tax and cuts of £3 million.

But he said today: "Given the settlement which we have had, we are extremely keen to minimise any cuts and to ensure services in Bradford continue to be provided at the highest level.

"We have taken steps to ensure that we will meet the full cost of the teachers pay award and minimise as far as possible cuts in other areas.

"In these circumstances, I believe the people of Bradford will recognise the increase is necessary in the circumstances."

But today the anticipated increase in council tax came under heavy attack from the Council's opposition groups.

Leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said it was a bad deal for Bradford.

She said: "They are massaging their figures and their egos to keep it down to single figures. But. I believe it could go up to triple the rate of inflation when the fire and police precepts are added."

Leader of the Council's Liberal Democrat group Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said people had not voted for cuts in services at the same time as Council Tax increases.

But Labour says any figures would change only marginally with precepts to the police and fire authorities. The expected increase comes after an unsuccessful deputation to the government, asking for more funding.

A shock local government spending settlement left the Council millions of pounds short of the amount it wanted to spend. It received an increase of only about 3.5 per cent in its Standard Spending Assessment - the amount the Government says the authority needs to spend. The increase was the smallest of the West Yorkshire authorities.

The Government says the settlement was down on the district's expectations because figures from the Registrar General showed the district's population was falling and people were moving out.

The Council and business leaders had always believed Bradford was one of Britain's fastest growing cities.

When the settlements were announced, deputy Prime Minister - John Prescott said he expected councils' to be able to keep Council Tax rises at a reasonable level, such as 4.5 per cent.

The rise in .Bradford follows a 7.7 per cent Council tax increase last year.

But teaching unions said today that job losses would be the inevitable result if the compulsory teachers' pay increases were not paid for by Council Tax rises.

Mark Newman of the Bradford branch of the National Association of Head teachers said:"The alternative is for schools to bear the brunt of the increases from their own budget.

"Schools just cannot afford that and the only way they could make the books balance is to make redundancies."

John Howarth, Treasurer of the Bradford branch of the National Union of Teachers said increases in Council Tax were inevitable to fund pay rises.

He said the 3.5 per cent pay boost for most teachers was not unreasonable after years of sub inflation awards.

"If anything it is not a big enough pay rise. It won't retain and motivate teachers."

T&A Opinion

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.