Tax Set To Rise After Grant Cut

The bill for 1998/1999 -- the next financial year -- is set to increase overall, with the proportion of council tax needed to maintain county council services and the Metropolitan Police also due to go up.

Borough bosses predicted the rise in Hertsmere's share of council tax after putting forward an overall budget of £9,149,470 for council spending in 1998/1999, to be rubber stamped next week when the final council tax bill figures will also be decided at Hertsmere's full council meeting on Wednesday.

Hertfordshire County Council was due to raise its share of the council tax bill by 12 per cent at a meeting on Tuesday to meet increased spending.

Whereas Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council are asking council tax payers for an average of 31p less than last year for its portion of the bill over the next year.

The town council is asking Hertsmere Borough Council for a precept of £280,000 for the financial year 1998/1999.

Councillors approved the provisional budget at a policy and resources meeting last week.

The total for this year's budget has jumped by more than £90,000 from the 1996/1997 budget, when Hertsmere's portion of council tax was down £5.56 compared to the previous year.

Leader of Hertsmere council and the Labour group, Councillor Bryan Stanley, defended the rise in the borough's share of council tax, saying this year the council will have to cope with less funding from the Government.

"It's the very best that any council can do at the moment. The Government is giving priority to education as part of their election pledge and have transferred some of their grant from the district to the county council, the education authority," he said.

He added that the council has balanced the budget within the Government's capping limit and avoided asking householders to pay as much as 12 per cent more towards the borough's portion of council tax, by reducing spending costs and looking for more efficiency in services.

"We have worked very hard to get costs down and the best possible services, but it still means there is to be an increase of nine per cent. This is the only way we can make up the gap for the reduction in Government grants and at the same time maintain services," he said. "There are no cuts in services and we are looking at every aspect of work in Hertsmere to make sure we are getting value for money."

But Hertsmere Tories were not so happy with the council budget, saying the Labour group was being forced to make savings after "squandering" a healthy financial situation inherited from the previous Tory administration.

Councillor David Wernick said: "We are appalled -- with £70million of capital receipts in the bank, a massive increase from the interest, they have spent almost all of the money and are having to make savings," he said.

"They have been considering redundancies and reductions in services. They have spent money without any concern, then we have the double whammy of finding savings to avoid being capped."

But there was some good news for Hertsmere council tax payers who will each receive a credit with their bills in April due to the council's good collection rate for last year's tax.

Mr Stanley said it will mean the full amount of the council tax increase will be offset by the refund, and for Band D householders that will mean a credit of £2.27.

The borough's finance director Jim Hill said the budget has been "whittled" down within the Government's capping limit through a number efficiency savings in services.

He estimated the borough has lost the equivalent of seven per cent in council tax due to the switching of Government funding away from Hertsmere to the county council.

"We reduced council tax last year but this year it will increase. It is more than most people will want to pay but we have to increase it if we are to avoid eroding services and we can't absorb the whole loss of Government money. "

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