Council Tax increase to protect frontline services

Hertfordshire County Council has proposed to adopt the general council tax increase allowed by the government to meet the challenges of increased demand for services from an ageing and growing population, as well as having to provide support for adults and children living with more complex needs.

The amount of money the council receives in core funding from the central government is falling by £22 million in 2018/19 and at the same time the council has faced growing inflationary pressures. Therefore, even without extra demand, the council would still need to spend more to provide the same level of service.

Hertfordshire County Council’s budget for 2018/19 will consequently include two elements of increase: three per cent specifically to support adult social care, and 2.99 per cent to help fund all services.

The aims of the budget are: protecting vital frontline support to elderly and vulnerable residents; investment to meet the challenges of a growing county; and delivering services in the most efficient way. The total proposed increase of 5.99 per cent will ensure these aims are met.

David Williams, leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “Our recent budget consultation showed that the majority of residents would rather see council tax increases than service reductions. While we would prefer not to place this extra burden on local council tax payers, we have a responsibility to do the best for all of our residents, particularly those most in need of our support.

“As part of the proposed budget, we will also be investing in key areas to address the challenges of a growing county. Alongside the planned investment into the maintenance of our busiest roads, we are investing an additional £29 million over the next four years to improve the condition of our unclassified road network - that’s the roads that most of us live on, as well as rural lanes.

“And we are already working together with local partners to provide the infrastructure to support the delivery of over 90,000 homes over the next 15 years – with us directly helping to deliver 6,000 of these news homes through our own property company, Herts Living.

“Finally, we will keep looking for different and innovative ways to deliver services in the most efficient way possible. For example, our new family centres will offer families all the support they previously received from children’s centres but we are also integrating the services of our health visitors and school nurse teams to provide a more joined up family service while reducing overall costs.”