Rushmoor Borough Council’s Cabinet agreed on Tuesday (6) to reduce its planned Council Tax increase for next year from 3.9% to 3.4%.
The Cabinet heard on Tuesday of the work that had been done to identify further areas for reduction in the Council’s budget since it agreed a provisional figure of 3.9% last month.
Councillor Peter Moyle, Leader of the Council said: “We have decided to reduce the planned increase in Rushmoor’s Council Tax to look after the interests of our residents, especially senior citizens on lower fixed incomes. We can do this because of our track record of sound financial management and a programme of work to review services to reduce spending.”
He added, “This will require some difficult decisions on services, but I am confident this Council can achieve these.”
“However, I would assure our residents that we are still committed to providing the high quality front-line services that they expect from us. Our budget also allows for the Council to move forward in some high priority areas, such as recycling, community safety and concessionary travel for our senior citizens.”
The Council’s budget proposals were drawn up following consultation with senior citizens’ forums in Aldershot and Farnborough and representatives of business and voluntary sectors. Each of the Council’s Policy and Review Panels has also reviewed them.
Councillor Moyle added: “We have received widespread support from all parts of the community for the budget, and my fellow councillors have put forward some interesting proposals for reviews of particular services to enable us to reduce our spending.”
The budget is due to be considered for final approval at the meeting of Council on the 22 February.
Rushmoor’s budget makes up around 10% of the total Council Tax bill received by residents. The rest of the bill goes to pay for services provided by Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Police Authority and the Hampshire Fire Authority.
No comments:
Post a Comment