Neston council tax bills to go up by 2.5% in 2010/11

Mar 3 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Heswall News

NESTON council taxpayers will see their bills go up by an average of 49p per week this year.

Last Thursday Cheshire West and Chester councillors agreed a council tax rise of 2.5% – 1% below inflation.

Presenting his budget, Councillor Les Ford, Executive Member for Finance, said the council’s grant from the Government of £93.482m had risen by 2.06% but was less than the average awarded to all councils.

He said: “The average settlement of 3.05% would have meant an extra £900,000 which would have enabled us to have achieved a rise of 1.8%.”

The budget was decided over four hours of stormy debate broadcast live on the internet.

Agreed by 45 votes to 17 with one abstention, the budget will raise £151m from taxpayers and provides £244.296m to finance council activities.

Opposition amendments with reductions in the areas of corporate training, contingencies, capital funding and vacancy management were all defeated.

The final council tax bills for Neston in 2010/11, including fire and police precepts, will be as follows:

BAND A £1,001.93

BAND B £1,168.91

BAND C £1,335.90

BAND D £1,502.89

BAND E £1,836.87

BAND F £2,170.84

BAND G £2,504.82

BAND H £3,005.78