4% tax rise is ‘about right’

More than half of residents who responded to a consultation on council tax said a 4% rise was about right or too little.

Herefordshire Council’s proposed tax bill increase for the next financial year equates to an extra £59.28 for people living in an average band D property.

The hike includes an extra 2% which will go towards adult social care while 1.9% of the increase will be spent on general services.

Of those who commented to the council’s budget proposals, 51.5% said the increase was about right or too little.

However, 53% disagreed with how the council tax will be spent.

They said that not enough was allocated to particular services, rather than too much.

Respondents said the top priority for Herefordshire Council should be investing in council owned care homes or villages to support the vulnerable.

Second highest on the list was council housing, with 79% of those who took part in the consultation supporting investment in more affordable housing and keeping it in public ownership.

Meanwhile, spending more on the public realm to fix the county’s roads and pavements was the third most popular proposal.

Chief finance officer Andrew Lovegrove said the increase of 3.9% would be an increase of £1.14 a week for band D properties.

He also spoke of the council’s proposals to invest in more affordable housing for residents.

“There’s quite a lot of work ongoing about the different models of delivering social housing,” he said.

“That work is well underway and cabinet approved £150,000 to fund that phase of work.”

He said the proposals is to spend up to £100m from the year 2022/23 onwards.

Full council is expected to discuss the budget proposals at Hereford Shirehall on February 14.

If these are approved, those living in band D properties will pay £1,573.77 a year to Herefordshire Council.

This figure does not include the tax paid towards other services such as the police and parish councils.