Labour say finances solid as council tax up 4.99%
Getty ImagesCouncil tax bills in York are set to rise by almost 5% after the city council agreed an increase which will add an extra £90 to the average annual Band D payment.
The increase was agreed at a full City of York Council meeting on Thursday night.
It was part of a package of measures - including "significant" increases to car parking charges - put forward by the Labour-run council as it looks to balance next year's books.
The meeting also saw the council agree a document that will shape the city's development for the next 15 years.
The Local Plan - York's first for nearly 70 years - says the city needs 20,000 new homes between now and 2038.
Two per cent of the increase will go towards the cost of social care, and the other 2.99% will fund council services.
The overall budget proposals include plans to invest £8m in adult social care and £2.7m in children's social care.
Meanwhile, £9m has been allocated to cover the costs of inflation, and the effect it has had on the cost of delivering council services.
The council tax increase will take effect from April.
Current 2024/25 City of York council tax rates (non-parish areas)
- Band A £1,359.11
- Band B £1,585.62
- Band C £1,812.14
- Band D £2,038.66
- Band E £2,491.70
- Band F £2,944.73
- Band G £3,397.77
- Band H £4,077.32
Katie Lomas, senior Labour councillor in charge of finance, said the authority's finances were now looking "solid".
"We're fixing all the things that were wrong with them.
"We've got that grip back and we're able to control our spending and make positive decisions about how we spend, and not end up in a mess by the end of the year.
"Our budget this year is a hopeful budget with no new cuts to services."
But Chris Steward, leader of the council's Conservative group, said York residents "aren't getting a great deal of value from this Labour council".
He said: "When it came to power they promised to freeze council tax, it wasn't done.
"The Labour government promised to freeze council tax and it wasn't done. Instead, people are, again, having to pay for a maximum council tax increase."
Councillor Nigel Ayre, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said a chronic lack of public spending in York was "beginning to hit hard".
"If that doesn't change in the next 12 months then next year's budget will be catastrophic," he said.
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