Council tax set to rise in York (From York Press)

Council tax set to rise in York

7:25pm Monday 8th October 2012 in News By Gavin Aitchison, gavin.aitchison@thepress.co.uk

YORK’S council tax is set to rise again next year, after its leader said a freeze offered by the Government would mean more cuts.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday announced the Government would help English councils freeze the tax for a further year and would set aside £450 million to do so, but James Alexander said York’s tax was set to rise by two per cent.

A Treasury spokesman said a freeze in 2013-14 would represent a real terms cut of around two per cent, and said the money would be available through a new grant scheme for councils and police and fire authorities who freeze or reduce their council tax.

But Coun Alexander, City of York Council leader, said today: “The Government says it believes in localism but is trying to twist the arm of local authorities. We have budgeted for a two per cent increase in council tax this year, which is still less than last year.

“This was made public in our two year budget agreed democratically by full council in February. Any freezing of council tax will mean further cuts than we are already having to implement as a result of significant reductions in Government funding, which will undoubtedly affect the services we can deliver next year. We inherited a state of minimum reserves from the previous administration so cannot use our reserves to support services in the way council’s with larger reserve funds can, if only for a limited time.”