News

Wokingham Borough Council has decided to increase council tax to help reduce the impact of £6 million of savings
advertisement

Council tax to rise for first time in three years

By Jon Nurse
February 21, 2013

Council Tax is set to rise for the first time in three years after council bosses rejected a Government grant to freeze the charge.

Despite generating £1.6 million from the 1.9 per cent rise, Wokingham Borough Council still needs to make savings of £6 million in its proposed 2013/14 budget.

Millions of pounds will be spent on education, housing, the town centre regeneration and easing traffic congestion over the next three years, while children’s centres and the borough’s youth service will see funding slashed by £570,000 a year.

Job losses at the borough council will also save a further £500,000 a year over the next three years.

The council’s executive is set to agree tonight (Thursday) the borough’s share of the overall Council Tax for 2013/14 at £1,222.50 for a Band D property, meaning a rise of 45p per week.

Councillor David Lee, council leader, said: “The country is in a bad state and we have to rise to the challenge. We are being asked to rise more than others and we will have to make cuts in the future.

2012 Council tax freeze won't hit services

“This budget is not just based on cutting costs as if you do that you just cut off the head and it’s lost. It’s about planning for the future.

Council Tax has been frozen for the past two years thanks to a Government grant, but the council opted not to accept a one per cent grant this year.

Cllr Anthony Pollock, executive member for finance, said: “We took the view there were too many uncertainties and we would rather have the extra income in the tax base this year because it protects services for the future.”

There is huge pressure on the council as it was handed its worst ever local government finance settlement in December, a reduction of 10.3 per cent this year followed by a further 16 per cent reduction in 2014/15 – totalling £5 million over the next two years.

However, the proposed cuts won’t affect the long-awaited town centre regeneration.

Graham Ebers, strategic director of resources, said: “We are investing in a brighter future and we need to fund that now.

"It’s our responsibility as community leaders to invest in the town and infrastructure to do our bit to stem the tide of austerity.”

The council has saved £16.5 million over the last four years, and promises to protect frontline services and vulnerable people despite even further cutbacks.

Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for highways and planning, said: “We are looking for better ways of doing things.

“Just because we havedone something the last 50 years doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it any more.”

| Submit Comments | View Comments (22)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 22 of 22

Stig2, it really is a messed-up system, isn't it? Although I do appreciate money has to be carved-up and apportioned appropriately, and we live in an expensive and 'good' part of the country, the weighting just cannot be right. Our council is a massive fan of repeating the mantra that 'central government nicks all our money' - I've heard it SOOO many times - but I've yet to hear of them challenging it in any way.

(similar to the local councillor who has been saying for 5 years that WBC want to take responsibility for car-parking in the borough, and yet still hasn't actually applied for that right)

It makes me wonder how happy our local government is to have these easy excuses to hand, rather than actually deal with making anything better.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
22/02/2013 at 11:39

therefore... the extra 45p a week will actually be 4.5p approx available to WBC. This system is very annoying!

Stig2, Wokingham
22/02/2013 at 11:34

yes DT... as far as I understand it I pay over £2k council tax which is collected by WBC staff and sent lock stock and barrel to central govt. WBC then receive £85 approx per person. £255 in my case. the rest is redistributed to other councils eg blackpool recve £1800 approx per person. Additonally, business rates are collected by WBC and sent to central govt and WBC don't get any money back. Cllrs .... can you pls start challenging this to get some of our money reallocated to us.

Stig2, Wokingham
22/02/2013 at 11:31

(that is to say, real council employees - I'm sure the executives and heads of service - some of whom have other jobs elsewhere - will get a nice big rise).

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
22/02/2013 at 09:53

No, council employees will have their pay frozen for the third consecutive year. Meaning my sister, who works there and does a great job, will still be paid less than 17k/year.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
22/02/2013 at 09:52

So do the council workers also get a pay rise this year? I wish I did.

Why oh Why oh Why, Reading
22/02/2013 at 08:55

WHERE JUST SOME OF OUR MONEY GOES ....... Last year Wokingham paid their top 9 earners £1,118,996 in salaries and pensions. Last year Wokingham council commissioned a multi thousand £ piece of jewellery, then presented it to themselves. The council replaced perfectly good benches (I checked them) around the town hall costing several thousand £. KEEP SPOTLIGHTS ON BOTH COUNCILS' SPENDING BY CHECKING THEIR WEB SITES OR BY ASKING ! Ron Paul Speaks the Truth

Ron Paul speaks the Truth, Winnersh
21/02/2013 at 19:22

WHERE JUST SOME OF OUR MONEY GOES - Wokingham council top 9 earners were paid £1,118,996 last year Wokingham Council commisioned jewellery costing several £thousand's last year... then presented it to themselves ! Wokingham council replaced perfectly good benches outside the town hall last year, at a cost of several thousand £

KEEP VIGILANT-THEY'RE WASTING OUR MONEY

Ron Paul speaks the Truth, Winnersh
21/02/2013 at 19:01

get rid of all the dead wood at the shute end offices.that would save us a fortune.more to follow on this subject.

right said fred
21/02/2013 at 17:55

Much as I love a dig at WBC, let's remember that our national government have decided that our borough will receive far less money next year than they said we would, and we still receive less per capita than anywhere else in the country, don't we?

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
21/02/2013 at 17:12

Another Wokingham Couciil "Rip Off".

true blue
21/02/2013 at 16:05

We should keep public sector jobs, not regenerate the town.

Wokingham is selling it's idendity to big business.

We are a market town, not a corporate town.

People of Wokingham, say NO to the town centre regeneration.

we ARE better than this.

wokinghamworker, Wokingham
21/02/2013 at 15:33

My council rented garage roof leaks, the council said the couldnt fix it as they were spending the rent money i pay them on unemployed council house tennants. As a hardworking home owner, i get nowt, just reside yourselfs folks, if you cant beat them join them. i am going to become the street b*m of Arborfield! give me a wave if you see me!

Apocalyptic Horseman, Reading
21/02/2013 at 15:22

Everyone is trying to save money so it seems...... Thames Valley Police recently reported the theft of a Green Waste wheelie bin.

Keep em peeled (and composted)

Beef Cake Argh!
21/02/2013 at 14:16

My suspicion, Smiffy is that rather than the situation being like this:

"Times are hard, so we have made efficiencies and cut extraneous expenditure that we don't need; we now provide the same high level of services that we always did, but for less money. Aren't we great?"

...the truth is:

"Times are hard, the government's cut budgets unilaterally, and we simply have to cut the amount we spend. This will affect health, wealth, happiness, and basically most of our services will decline. We've cut everything we can cut, and a few more things besides, to meet a financial target. We started by making a load of redundancies, and we'll start to feel the effects of that decision soon when services decline - as they have clearly started to in the NHS, the police force, the immigration service, the food standards agency, and so on. We haven't done anything particularly clever."

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
21/02/2013 at 13:53

The biggest problem is that it is the same people making the same decisions. Unless there is a different mind set in control, things will never change significantly. They should be looking at better ways of doing things year on year, I don't see why this year is any different to other years. It just seems that the politicians may finally have woken up? Seeing is believing though!

Smiffy, Reading
21/02/2013 at 13:41

If they stopped building houses in the borough they wouldn't have to build more schools etc. Looking back we need to see how many council promises are being broken. The main one that irks me is the promise to preserve a green belt between Wokingham and Bracknell. It wasn't many years ago that Tesco wanted to build its new store on the land that is about to become a huge housing estate. The Tesco plan included a park and a football ground. The council rejected this because it would be built on land that they wanted to preserve as green belt.

PoneRana, Wokingham
21/02/2013 at 13:39

I wonder how much more efficiently the council would run if it was run as a private business? Alot me thinks......

Why oh Why oh Why, Reading
21/02/2013 at 13:01

“We have decided not to go for the offer of restricting Council Tax increase. We don’t take pleasure in it. We would love to reduce it but it would be very short-sighted and we would pay for it in the future.”

"Council Tax has been frozen for the past two years thanks to a Government grant, but the council opted not to accept a one per cent grant this year."

I think many people raised this last year; the council kept council tax static using a government bribe, and went to the press saying how wonderfully considerate that is, and that it's a disgrace that other (Labour and Lib-Dem) councils were not doing the same. A number of us pointed out that it would mean a future shortfall, and look where we are now. Interesting that the council leader would describe this 'as short-sighted and we would pay for it in the future' - when that's exactly what they chose to do for the last two years.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
21/02/2013 at 11:58

Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for highways and planning, said: “We are looking for better ways of doing things.

“Just because we havedone something the last 50 years doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it any more.”

It most certainly does not.

Anyone else remember the money that has been wasted on projects that have never materialised in the past 25 years.

The Wokingham I.D.R. comes to mind

William Richards
21/02/2013 at 09:26

"Build it and they will come"....

How they get here is anyone's guess.

Beef Cake Argh!
21/02/2013 at 09:23

"Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for highways and planning, said: “We are looking for better ways of doing things."

YES - THAT IS YOUR JOB AND YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING THAT BEFORE. LOOK AT THE STATE WOKINGHAM HAS GOT INTO!