By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Rushcliffe Borough Council has frozen council tax for the coming year for sixty per cent of households, but brought in a small rise for some.
The Conservative-run authority said its council tax level will “again be the lowest in Nottinghamshire” and those in bands A-D will see no increase in Council Tax for the 12 months from April.
Bands E to H will see on average 9p a week increase.
The move will mean 60 per cent of properties in the borough will not pay more in the Rushcliffe portion of council tax.
Councillors met to discuss the proposals on March 2 when political parties clashed in a heated budget meeting.
The budget was passed with 26 votes for and 12 abstentions from a number of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors. Six councillors were absent from the vote.
Cllr Carys Thomas (Ind) said the freeze for the majority of people would be a “drop in the ocean” as residents will still pay extra for Nottinghamshire County Council, the fire service and the police and crime commissioner.
She said: “Once again, I see we have gone into overdrive about how cheap we are.
“So much for democracy in this rubberstamping council dominated by one party.”
She said she supported the freezing of council tax for those in bands A to D.
She added: “We hope this principle will be replicated in future years when there is no election.”
Labour said they would abstain from the budget and Cllr Jen Walker (Lab) claimed the council tax freeze was actually a “hidden rise” in future budgets.
Responding to the criticisms, Cllr Simon Robinson, leader of the council, said: “Am I supposed to stand here and apologise that this is one of the best-run councils in the country?”
Cllr Robinson added: “This is a budget that has been created with significant headwinds such as the war in Europe, the rate of inflation and the prices of energy.
“This is a budget built on the real success of prudent control of this authority.
“We are going to remain debt fee again. We are one of the only councils not only in Nottinghamshire, but in the country, which has no debt.”
Cllr Robinson said the council will not increase car parking charges in the borough to “give support to businesses and help footfall on the high street”.
He said the council is investing £3.7m in disabled facilities across the borough,£4.7m for social housing and £2.7m for leisure facilities.
Cllr Jen (Lab) said: “The truth is, if a borough like Rushcliffe can’t balance its budget, nobody can.
“For years we’ve been told this is to do with prudence, which is in part a fair assessment.
“But really it’s down to good fortune, we’ve been fortunate to have an affluent borough, fortune to have available areas of land to sell to build large housing estates and fortunate we have a small number of services to fund.
“We need to bury this self-congratulatory attitude.”
She said the council tax freeze was a “hidden rise”.
She added: “Next year it will be double because this hidden rise will be funded by the government and this borough.
“The Labour group is going to abstain on this budget because what we do bears little impact on tonight’s outcome.”
Cllr Mike Gaunt (Lab) said he was worried that “next year will be a double whammy” when it comes to council tax.
Cllr Gordon Moore (Con) said he was “upset” and ” extremely disappointed” by comments made in the chamber by the Labour and Independent councillors.
He added he could not promise what the budget would be for next year.
He said: “All I can say is the budget isn’t written for next year and I can’t pre-empt what we are going to be doing.
“This year we’ve found special money but who knows what is coming next year.
“The cost of living problems have not gone away. I’m not a fortune teller but I think it’s a fair point that you raise.”
Cllr Richard Mallender (Green) added there was “a lot to be commended” in the budget and highlighted the decarbonisation projects and funding for climate change action.
He added: “Some things as Greens we are not particularly happy with. For the car park charges, we completely understand your reasoning but disagree with it.
“What we need to be doing is working with other local authorities on improving the public transport across the borough such that people are not forced into using their cars for every trip.”
The rates will be applied from next month when new bills are issued for the new Council Tax year.
