Conservatives ask for £250 Council Tax increase

The Conservative Leader of Hampshire County Council has asked the Government for permission to increase Hampshire County Council's share of Council Tax by 15% this year. That amounts to roughly £250 extra on people's council tax bills.

Current rules dictate that “principal authorities”, such as New Forest District Council and Hampshire County Council can only raise council tax by a maximum of 4.99% in a single year. If they want to increase that amount, they need to hold a referendum.

However, the Conservative-run authority has been warning for years that it is close to bankruptcy because of the spiraling cost of Adult Social Care made worse by an increasing elderly population. The Conservatives want to avoid a referendum on increasing the council tax because they fear they would lose it.

Town and Parish Councils are not bound by the same rules because their budgets are considerably smaller. For instance, Lymington and Pennington Town Council are set to increase council tax by 12% this year but that amounts to an increase of just £12.39 for the year.

Commenting, Lib Dem Councillor for Pennington, Colm McCarthy said:

"The County Council's level of council tax is capped for a reason - to prevent excessive increases making life harder for local residents.

"The financial crisis in local government has been caused by years of underfunding by the previous Conservative Government and that Government's failure to deal with social care.

"I had hoped Labour would attempt to fix it but they seem to care more about reorganising local government than properly funding it.

“This increase to Council Tax is excessive and should be refused by the Government.”