Notts fire authority approves £5 council tax increase for all homes

By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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Nottinghamshire Fire Authority will raise its portion of council tax bills by 2.99 per cent after councillors approved next year’s budget.

The full authority met on Friday, February 28, and gave the go-ahead to the increase.

This will mean the portion of all Nottinghamshire council tax bills which goes towards the service increasing by £5 for each household from April.

Households in Band D would pay £97.21 per year while Band A households, would see rises in council tax to £64.81 per annum.

The rise would generate an extra £1.7million in funding for the service, documents say.

It would also help the service towards balancing its books by cutting an expected annual budget gap to £887,000.

Reports also show a similar increase in council tax in the following financial years would control an expected budget deficit to 2029.

Speaking in the meeting, Cllr Roger Upton (Con) said: “Our group will be supporting the budget today.

“I give thanks to the team for the amount of work they put in, we support the recommendations of this balanced budget and the council tax increase.

“It is not good in terms of looking down the future years, whoever can petition to the Government to change that method of financial allocations would be welcome.”

Cllr Tom Hollis (Ash Ind), who voted against the recommendations, and described the tax hike as a “disgrace”.

He said in the meeting: “If less effort was put into designing nice new offices and more time listening to members of this authority, things would look a lot better and be a more inclusive fire authority.

“I’m very passionate about seeing the authority doing well.

“Ultimately the focus should be on frontline [workers], investing in West Bridgford fire station, inclusive staff, and paying fire fighters more money.

“I think these are all the things this budget for the first time, doesn’t do.”

Majority of councillors voted for the recommendations, while Cllr Tom Hollis (Ash Ind), Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind) and Cllr Helen Ann-Smith (Ash Ind) voted against.

The vote came a day after Nottinghamshire County Council approved its own 4.84 per cent increase to council tax bills.

This is on top of the fire authority’s increase and will affect Band A properties with an increase of £58.71 for the year.

Band B homes will pay £68.02 more, with £77.75 more for Band C and Band D facing an £87.46 increase.

Nottinghamshire’s police and crime panel has also increased precepts for local policing.

That 4.9 per cent rise will see Band A homes paying £9.30 more, Band B properties facing a £10.85 rise for policing, a £12.50 rise for Band C and an increase of £14 for Band D.

District and borough councils can also increase bills by up to 2.99 per cent. This is roughly £3.50 for Band A homes and £5 for Band D.

Each local authority has the power to set its own precepts, with most increasing precepts by the maximum 2.99 per cent but others having lower rises – and Ashfield District Council freezing bills.