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Council Tax Rise of 1.99% Proposed By Surrey County Council

Published on: 27 Jan, 2014
Updated on: 27 Jan, 2014

Surrey County Council wants a rise in its share of council tax by 1.99%. – just below the 2% threshold for which a public poll must be held.

It is the third year in a row the county council has proposed a rise, despite the Government’s cash incentive to freeze it.

The leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge.

The leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge.

The leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge, said: “We’ve said we need 2.5%, because any more means wasting up to £2 million on a referendum, and while it puts more pressure on services we’ll still be able to provide what residents expect with this increase.

“With the number of vulnerable adults we help increasing by 1,000 over the next three years at a cost of £25 million and a leap in pupil numbers meaning we need to spend £327 million on school places by 2019, the pressure on services from demographic changes is enormous.

“On top of these challenges, we have to cope with the impact of other costs that are also completely out of our control, such as the bill of up to £10 million to fix our roads after the recent floods and the £5 million we spent last year on repairing the damage caused by ice and snow.”

Surrey County Council has said that the proposal will allow key services to be preserved as it continues to face the challenges of rising demand and shrinking government funding.

It added that despite making savings of £200 million since 2010, all these have been wiped out by a falling government grant and increasing demand for services. The county council has identified a further £200 million of savings over the next four years.

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