Wycombe council tax: what you'll pay (From Bucks Free Press)

Wycombe council tax: what you'll pay

9:20pm Thursday 25th February 2010 in Bourne End & Wooburns By Oliver Evans

Wycombe District Council's offices in High Wycombe

WYCOMBE District Council approved a 1.75 per cent increase on its part of the council tax tonight after rejecting a freeze.

The move by the Conservative-controlled authority means the average increase for a band D home will be from £124.77 to £126.99 for the 12 months from April. It gets about 10 per cent of the final bill.

County, fire, police and parish councils get the rest of the cash. Click the link at the bottom of this story to see how much you will pay.

Opposition Liberal Democrats put forward a council tax freeze but this was voted down by 31 to eight with one abstention.

Lib Dem leader Councillor Brian Pollock suggested taking £148,000 from council reserves, leaving £2m, to allow a freeze. He said the group would not shy away from future increases.

Yet he said: “People are still suffering. Even any increase at all will make a difference for them.”

Labour group leader and Micklefield councillor Margaret Draper said: “Many of my residents say ‘I don’t know what we will do if the council tax goes up’.”

But Conservative Councillor David Shakespeare said the plan ‘shows no understanding of how local government is financed’.

He said another one-off cost would have to be found the following year, when cash support from Government is expected to be low.

Cllr Shakespeare said: “This is a foolhardy proposal that would hit residents really really hard in one year’s time.”

And fellow party member Cllr Tony Green branded the call ‘irresponsible’.

He said: “Those in control have a responsibility that you in opposition can neglect which is to look at future years as well as the year we are in.”

Council leader Lesley Clarke accused the opposition of proposing ‘reckless spending’.

She said: “We acknowledge that there are people here in our district who are finding it difficult.”

Government cash support to WDC was ‘the lowest possible increase’ of 0.5 per cent, £50,000, said Councillor Roger Wilson, cabinet member for finance.

The future settlement was expect to be ‘the worst in our history’ with a cut of up to 10.5 per cent, he added.

The authority had saved millions, for example by cutting jobs, and Cllr Wilson said a £600,000 ‘transformation fund’ would back ideas that save cash.

He said 1.75 per cent is the ‘lowest increase we can sensibly afford to pass on to our residents’.

Cllr Wilson said the increase for some would be ‘very hard to swallow’.

He said: “We wish it could be lower and will work to ensure further increases will be low.”

Click the link below to see how much you will pay if you live in South Bucks or Chiltern district council areas.