Council tax could rise by 5% in Nottingham city under new proposals to tackle a funding gap of more than £30million next year. Nottingham City Council has announced it is planning to hike the tax by the maximum amount allowed as part of a series of measures.
This would see an increase of 4.99% for the next two years, starting in April 2023. The Labour-led authority said it faced 'difficult decisions'.
The council also intends to cut 110-full time equivalent jobs. And it plans to review fees and charges at car parks, leisure centres and museums, withdrawing the wheelchair hire service at the Victoria Centre and stopping the collection of household bins put out on the wrong day.
Read more: Nottingham City Council tax hike would 'hit a lot of people'
The new savings proposed for next year are so far are worth £29m. Councillor Adele Williams, the council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance, said: "Most councils up and down the country are facing significant financial difficulties, and once again we are faced with some really difficult decisions about how we balance our budget next year.
"We have also looked in this budget process for ways in which we can become more efficient and effective with each pound we spend for Nottingham. Demand continues to grow for vital services such as adult social care, which now makes up over a third of the council's entire budget.
"Since 2010 we have had to make over £300m of savings to our budgets. With vastly diminished Government grants, we have got to seriously consider the 5% council tax increase allowed by Government, even though this wouldn’t raise enough to properly meet local needs, and it would sadly place a further burden on local people who we know are already struggling with the cost of living crisis. For the vast majority of city residents, this would equate to between £1.25 and £1.46 more per week. When Nottingham households have lost out on average almost £700 of national funding since 2010, this rise is something we have been forced to consider."
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