Arun decides 2.97% council tax rise

The next bills will be reaching residents in the middle of March and will take an even bigger chunk out of domestic budgets.

The final piece of the bill was agreed by Arun District Council last night.

Councillors decided upon a below-inflation 2.97 per cent increase in their share of the bill.

The decision will see the district council's slice of a band D bill will rise by 4.41 in the year from April to 152.91.

This makes the new average council tax payment 1,409.53 for an increase of 4.42 per cent on the current amount. The final bill comprises the Sussex Police Authority precept as well as the much larger chunk to the county council. Parish and town council spending completes the total.

Conservative and Independent members of Arun backed the district council budget. Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors abstained.

The council's Tory leader, Cllr Gill Brown, said councillors could be proud about Arun's financial record.

"We have long-term financial stability, no surprises, strong financial control and no service cuts," she pointed out.

"Our council tax gives extremely good value for money.

"We charge less than 3 a week to a band D household for all the services we provide.

"I don't think anyone can argue they are not getting value for money."

But she criticised the government for failing to match the commitments it had loaded on to authorities with the cash needed to fulfil them.

This had turned the council tax into a stealth tax on individuals.

But she said Arun had achieved some successes in spite of the difficult financial background.

Chief among those was a reduction in spending on b and b for homeless families. This was coming down from 109,000 last year to an estimated 39,000 this year.

The council also had a 7.3m programme of capital projects lined up.

However, Arun would be dipping into its reserves by a further 600,000 to pay its way.

LibDem group leader Cllr Simon McDougall said the low council tax rise belied the difficulties Arun was facing.

"The headline figure is a 2.97 per cent rise but the real challenges lie ahead.

"And, in the current situation, there's no way that figure will be repeated next year unless we are prepared to bleed our balances dry."

The Labour group leader, Cllr Mike Northeast, said Arun was failing to use its resources to tackle deprivation.

"This budget statement offers little or no comfort to those living in the most deprived wards of the district," he complained.

He added the council could have made better use of the 1m-plus spent on consultants' reports in the past two years with seemingly little effect on the lives of residents.

Independent group leader Cllr Sylvia Olliver also spoke about the budget.

Full details of what you will pay in next week's Bognor Regis Observer.