Council tax increases for 2022/23 financial year

EAST Riding Councillors voted on Thursday, February 10 to agree to increase East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s part of the council tax charge by 3.99% for the 2022/23 financial year.

At a special Full Council meeting, councillors voted to increase the general part of the council tax bill by 1.99% and to increase by a further 2% for adult social care.

Recognising the growing cost of adult social care, the Government has allowed those local authorities with adult social care responsibilities that didn’t use the full permitted increase to council tax for adult social care last year to carry forward the unused increase to this year. The council has therefore brought forward its unused 1% as part of this year’s increase to help fund the largest increase to adult social care ongoing costs that it has faced in any single year, which will help to support the recruitment and retention of essential care workers for vulnerable people across the East Riding.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also put a strain on the council’s finances and savings of £7.4million need to be made from the 2022/23 budget, not only to absorb that impact but also to meet the growing costs of delivering services.

Unveiling his financial plans for 2022/23, Councillor Jonathan Owen, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council promised that, despite the pressures of rising inflation, a challenging employment market and the increased costs of adult social care, investment in the council’s key corporate priorities would continue including £1million over three years allocated to support the Council’s response to climate change as well as providing an extra 100 new electric vehicle charging points over the next 18 months while looking at how new technology can help improve services and connect more with residents.

The council’s part of the council tax bill will result in a monthly increase of £5.17 for Band D properties but there are also additional charges to be taken into account from Humberside Police, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service as well as town and parish councils, which are determined separately.

Withernsea Town Council carried out their annual budget review and forecast for 2022/23 back in November. All of the Council’s procedures and services (including property management, open spaces and the Christmas Lighting display and events etc) , their financial implications and forecasts were analysed in detail by the Finance Committee. The recommended budget is then submitted to the full council for approval.

The final precept levied on householders in the town depends on the tax base for Withernsea. The more social housing and claimants you have, the less your tax base is. It is calculated according to a band D property, then apportioned appropriately for the other bands. The fewer people paying full council tax, the lower the tax base is, which ultimately has an effect on the budget figures and affects the final percentage increase in the precept.

The net budget and precept demand for 2022/23 is £203,388.00 which represents a 3.4% precept increase. J Moxon PSLCC, Town Clerk & Responsible Financial Officer, commented: “It is fair to say that our responsibilities often outweigh our resources, but we do the best we can with the budget we have. We would like to do more. We do rely on some fundraising and sponsorship which has been scarce and difficult to raise since the pandemic, and we always try to locate additional external funding where it's available.”