COUNCIL TAX in Barnsley is going up by almost five per cent.
The council is having to slash £28m from its budget by 2020 in order to balance the books and council leader Sir Steve Houghton has warned that tough decisions are having to be made to blunt the impact of making these savings.
One of the decisions being taken is increasing the money raised through council tax to help pay for the rising costs of social care.
At the council’s ruling cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Coun Alan Gardiner said any members not aware of what is contained in the 2017-2020 budget proposals ‘must have been living in a cave’.
Coun Gardiner said the basic council tax increase for 2017/18 will be 1.9 per cent, with an additional three per cent for social care. This doesn’t include additional precept charges to cover the costs of police and fire services.
That means the average Band D household in Barnsley will be paying £1,358.72, an increase of £63.47 on last year.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
