Sefton Council has confirmed that council tax will, again, rise by the maximum 2.99%.
Council Leader Ian Maher said that the council was “forced” into the hike following a 50% reduction in government funding since 2010., while Southport Conservatives have said that “poor decision making”, such as the Council’s purchase of The Strand, led to the rise.
Southport’s Liberal Democrats have called the rise “unwelcome” while criticising the decision not to fully allocate the additional funding, saying that taxpayers have a right to know what the tax rise will be spent on.
Sefton Council says the rise results in an extra 66p per week for Band A properties and an additional 88p each week for properties in Band C. The rise comes into effect from 1 April.
Sefton Council Leader Cllr Ian Maher said: “Thanks to careful management, the Council’s finances remain resilient despite a reduction in funding of over 50% since 2010 by the Government, which has also failed to recognise just how hard our Borough has been hit by those cuts and the Covid pandemic.
“Rather than provide the resources we need to deliver services for local people and businesses and ensure a brighter future for all, the Government is, once again, forcing us to increase Council Tax to make local people pay for vital services instead.
“I know that when households across Sefton are facing a huge leap in the cost of heating their homes, rising prices in the shops and at the petrol pumps, increased train fares and will soon be hit by the Government’s decision to raise National Insurance payments, even 89p per week is another cost they could do without.
“But it does mean we will be able to provide the vital functions to support our most vulnerable, protect our communities and provide care for those who need it. We will also continue to run the facilities and services that people of Sefton rightly expect and deserve.”
A spokesperson for the Southport Conservatives said: “Each year, Sefton Council has to pay £1.7 million to pay off the loan used by Labour to buy The Strand.
“That’s equivalent to just over 1% of the proposed rise. If it wasn’t for this kind of financial mismanagement, we could be looking to cut Council Tax to help households across the borough. Instead, people are going to see their Council Tax go up because of Labour.”
The Liberal Democrats have criticised the council for not revealing how all the money it will raise will be spent saying that “opposition councillors failed last night to allocate new funding to parks, road safety and better drainage as the Labour administration sat tight-lipped on a multi-million-pound pot.”
“If a council is raising money from hard-pressed families through this horribly regressive tax,” said Lib Dem leader John Pugh, “ it should be duty-bound at budget time to tell the public what it wants it all for”.
“You can’t play poker with other people’s money. We have seen a tendency in recent years for Sefton to set up a series of what could be called “slush funds”- pots of money that can be doled out at the drop of hat by the top councillors that run the show.
“Another pot was created last night and can, in theory, be used for any council purpose from decorating the town hall to dealing with hardship and poverty, but no one can be sure what. The only thing we know for sure after the Sefton budget was pushed through is that it won’t be used to reduce the Council tax burden.
“It appears that the Labour administration can’t make its mind up at budget time or don’t want to let the public know.
“Obviously, there are always unexpected events to cater for but that’s why Councils have balances and Sefton balances at £15.6m are well above the recommended minimum and Sefton is able to call on its own Strategic Reserves to more or less double that sum.
“The last figure reported to the Council for Sefton’s usable Reserves was £146M.
“Sefton reserves are said by the Director of Finance to be ‘significant’, says Cllr Pugh,” so Council taxpayers are entitled to know at budget time if their bills are going up what all the money in the revenue budget is being spent on. There should be no secrets.”
Southport Conservatives have also criticised a decision to vote against a proposal to vote against a motion for £750,000 funding for restoration works in the Botanic Gardens, Hesketh Park and Kings Gardens.
Southport Conservatives said: “Our Parks are vital for the health and well being of our residents and we believe we should be looking to improve them.
“We also asked that Labour remove the much-hated temporary cycle lanes in Southport Town Centre and reinstate the parking there.
“Labour voted down the proposals“
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