Southend council defends 5% tax rise in 'toughest budget for decade'

A council leader has defended a proposed 5% tax increase which would raise £5m - but would mean Band C households pay an extra £70 a year.

Labour-led Southend-on-Sea City Council blamed rising inflation and "demand in adult social care".

It unveiled its "toughest draft budget for a decade", which including a string of austerity measures.

The plan, for 2023-24, also proposed a 10% increase in fees for services such as car parking and funerals.

"We are having to take some really tough decisions whilst remaining committed to protecting the most vulnerable people in our city," said council leader Stephen George.

"No councillor wants to raise council tax and fees and charges, or make savings, but councils are in the unenviable position of needing to do both."

The government's Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt told local authorities in November they could increase council tax by a maximum of 5%.

The proposal would mean a £1.32 increase per week for a Band C home in Southend, with £0.99 for Band A, £1.49 for Band D, and up to £2.98 for Band H homes per week.

An approximate 10% increase in fees, for services such as funerals, would mean the cost of cremations rising from £915 to £1,000.

The paper also proposes paying £7.9m to the social housing provider South Essex Homes, which it said was raising service charges by almost 45% and heating charges for sheltered housing tenants by 104%.

Among the budget's cost-cutting measures includes a proposal to close the bus station building, near The Royals shopping centre, which offers toilet facilities until 23:00.

The report said the station costs £200,000 per year to run and had been subject to antisocial behaviour.

Leasing the building to a "third party operator" or replacing it with a "series of bus shelters" which also offered toilets, was also suggested.

The council said all the proposals add up to a net base budget of £144m and would help address a £29m deficit that was predicted by 2027-28.

The administration, made up of Labour, Liberal Democrat and independent members, also blamed "years" of cuts in funding from central government.

The Conservative opposition leader Tony Cox said the authority had wasted £2.2m in "avoidable costs", including having to pay an extra £1.4m to a company that provides home-to-school transport for children with learning and physical disabilities.

He said the increase in car parking charges may not have been needed if the council "had they got their act together".

He added: "It's residents and visitors alike [who] are going to pay the heavy price of the complete incompetence and mismanagement of the administration."

Councillors will need to rubber stamp the budget at a meeting on 23 February.

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