Council taxpayers in Bolton will see their total bills rise by just over four per cent from April after the town hall’s budget was agreed for the next year. Bolton’s 2023/24 budget was approved on Thursday (February 15) at a meeting of the full council.
Members agreed to plans to raise general council tax by 1.99 per cent, with an additional two per cent rise in the adult social care precept, which raises ring-fenced funding for front-line services for the most vulnerable. The changes to council tax in Bolton are in addition to changes made by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
For 2023/24, the mayoral general precept, which includes fire services, will increase by £5 (4.86 per cent). The mayoral police and crime commissioner precept for a typical household will increase by £15 (6.57 per cent). The Bolton council element of the increase equate to an extra 83p a week for Band A properties, which make up over 40 per cent of the borough’s total tax base.
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Overall, the 2023/24 budget sets out plans to make £4.3m in savings across different parts of the council. The savings target is lower than anticipated, thanks to a £900,000 contribution from local NHS partners towards the cost of public health and social services. During the debate, the minority Conservative group, which controls the council, backed an amendment in the name of Horwich & Blackrod First Independents, Farnworth & Kearsley First and Little Lever & Darcy Lever First.
They said a £1m rebate that the council has received from Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority should be split equitably and £50,000 be allocated to each council ward for environmental improvements, community and public safety schemes. The money, split between Bolton Council’s 20 wards could be used on alley gating schemes, refurbishment of parks and community open spaces and highways improvements and road safety schemes.
Ward councillors will determine how their ward’s £50,000 will be spent, in consultation with town councils, where one exists. The Conservative backing of that amendment left them with enough votes to pass the budget.
Council leader Coun Martyn Cox said: “No council wants to raise council tax, especially with the rising cost of living impacting so many. “But these are also challenging times for councils, and I feel this budget strikes a balance by protecting vital services while also keeping tax increases as low as we can.”
Another five amendments, put forward by Labour, Liberal Democrats and One Kearsley were not successful. The defeated Labour amendment suggested an additional one per cent rise on the council’s element of the the tax.
Their leader Nick Peel said that would lead to additional income of £1.3m of which the majority would be spent on cleaning up the streets of Bolton. He said: “For 12 years council tax has gone up and services have reduced. They have reduced to such a point that our streets are no longer cleaned and fly tips are left to rot, whilst an epidemic of rats tun wild.
“The situation has clearly got worse and worse under the Tory council, and the really sad thing is that they have no plan whatsoever to try to resolve the issue. “Labour’s Clean Up Plan aimed to change this.
“We put to the budget meeting a fully costed real opportunity to grow back our services in our streets and neighbourhoods for the first time in 12 years.” Liberal Democrat leader Coun Roger Hayes, said: “The local Tories have decided to put off even more cuts until after this year’s elections by using nearly £9m of its reserves, meaning that Bolton is likely to need at least £22m of cuts next year.
“Will that mean resurrection of the plan to slash winter gritting, turning off the street lights and even worse options? “The Tories are trying to keep that under wraps until after the local elections in May.”
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