February 20, 2012 9.17 am This story is over 144 months old

Council tax frozen for second year running

Tax freeze: For the second year running, County Council uses government grant to freeze council tax.

Lincolnshire County Council confirmed that there will be no increase in its share of the council tax when bills are sent out later in March.

The freeze, worth almost £27 a year for the average Band D household in Lincolnshire, was approved at a full council meeting on Friday, February 17.

Lincolnshire County Council has to save £125 million over four years as the country seeks to cut the national deficit, and 1,000 full-time staff posts have been cut already.

Councillor Kelly Smith, Executive Member for Finance and HR, said: “In the last year, the council has made savings of over £50 million.

“This is a difficult time for everyone financially, and we feel it’s important to do all we can to make life easier for our residents. That’s why we’re freezing council tax for the second year running.

“And we’ve achieved this without severe cuts to frontline services or large-scale compulsory redundancies, relying instead on making the council ever more efficient.”

Councillors took the decision to freeze council tax despite a further fall in one of the council’s main sources of income — the ‘formula grant’ from the government.

The freeze in the county council’s share of the council tax was possible due to a one-off government grant to authorities that agree to keep rises to 2.5% or below.

In the next financial year, Lincolnshire will receive 7.6% – or £16.1 million – less to spend on services.

Councillor Smith added: “Despite our tough financial position, we have again protected services that have an impact on public safety, things like child protection, the fire service, and road maintenance.

“And we also continue to invest in major infrastructure projects, such as the Lincoln Eastern Bypass and next-generation broadband, which will pave the way for renewed prosperity in Lincolnshire.”

Source: Lincolnshire County Council | Photo: Dominic Clark for The Lincolnite