YORK’S council tax will stay as one of the lowest in the country after the city council passed its budget for the year ahead.

Council tax will go up by 3.7 per cent, and leaders said the deal struck the right balance between funding vital service in tough times, and not putting strain on families’ aleady stretched budgets.

However, they faced criticism from opposition Labour and Green councillors who said they were not standing up for York, and from independent Micklegate councillors Johnny Hayes who backed a Labour bid for higher council tax, saying care for older people was so important it needed more investment.

The Labour group’s Cllr Dafydd Williams accused the Lib Dem and Conservative leadership on the council of not standing up for York, on the budget as well as things like the barracks closure and central Government funding cuts.

Conservative council leader David Carr, however, stressed the need not to put bills up for already hard-pressed residents, while Lib Dem deputy leader Keith Aspden said his group was particularly proud of extra investment in mental health services. With shrinking central government funding, they had to focus on front line services and get value for the council’s money, he added.

Earlier in the meeting, York man Richard Bridge had urged the council to make it easier to pay their council tax in 12, rather than 10, monthly instalments, while Green party co-chairman for York Tom Franklin told councillors they should not be voting for cuts they did not understand Hazel Palmer of York People’s Assembly warned local history “would judge them harshly” for cutting child health programmes, and services for disabled children.

Meanwhile, York woman Gwen Swinburn used the public speaking session to criticise the lack of consultation with the public over the cuts. Her arguments were echoed by Green councillors, who later tried and failed to get a year-round programme of public meetings and outreach included in plans.

Cllr Lars Kramm then pleaded with the ruling councillors to make sure next year they give people proper chance to get involved in setting council budgets. Not talking to people is to waste a resource the council be using, he added.

That Green amendment also included plans for a much higher council tax increase, of 10 per cent, which would need to be approved by a city-wide referendum. It was heavily criticised by other parties, with Labour’s Julie Gunnell calling it unrealistic.

“If you’re on £7.50 a hour, which is what the new living wage will be, how on earth are you going to pay a 10 per cent council tax increase?”

That bid failed, as did a Labour bid for a 4.99 per cent increase which they said would reverse some of the severest cuts in social care and early intervention work. Both were voted down by the ruling Conservative and Lib Dem groups.

However, the Labour motion included a call for cash to fund studies for a potential housing development company in York, and the new housing executive member Cllr Sam Lisle revealed staff were already working on reports which include such a company.