Birmingham City Council is to cut its planned council tax rise, after city residents said they were sick of inflation-busting increases.
The Labour-led authority launched a consultation in December about plans to increase bills by £71.90 for a band D property, an increase of just under five per cent.
But council leader Ian Ward said it had now been decided to limit the increase to just under four per cent. This is around £57.49 a year.
He said: “The reaction we’ve got back is that people are becoming more concerned about council tax increases in recent years being not only above inflation, but also being carried out at a time when people have had pay increases well below the rate of inflation, if they’ve had one at all.
“So in response to that we are actually decreasing our council tax increase from the figure that we consulted on.”
The proposed increase includes a three per cent precept specifically for social care, which the Government is encouraging local councils across the country to impose.
There will also be 0.99 per cent increase in council tax for general services - down from the 1.99 per cent increase previously planned.
Coun Ward said concern about the impact of council tax increases on residents explained why he, along with other local council leaders, had blocked West Midlands Mayor Andy Street from imposing a new £12-a-year precept on council tax bills.
“What we are increasingly getting back from members of the public is they are becoming more concerned about council tax rises than they are about further budget cuts.
“It becomes very difficult to then agree a further increase for a mayoral percept.
“And that’s what the mayor’s proposition has become a victim of.”
In theory, councils can choose whether or not to impose 3% increase for social care. However, Coun Ward said that they did not have any choice because it was the only way to raise money that was essential to keep services running.
“All the Government’s numbers are based on the assumption that authorities with responsibility for social care take that precept,” he said.
“They have been increasingly passing responsibility for the gap that exists in local government funding on to local taxpayers.”
The Government has given councils permission to increase council tax bills by almost six per cent this year, including the social care precept. Authorities can propose an even bigger increase, but would need to ask local residents to approve the tax hike in a referendum.
Birmingham is attempting to cope with cuts in funding from central government which come at the same time as demand for services is increasing.
It has said it expects to have to make savings of £111 million per year by the end of the next four year period.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has confirmed that the police precept, which is added to council tax bills, will increase by £12 in April, from £116.55 a year to £128.55 a year.
Birmingham City Council is holding elections on May 4. Unusually, every seat in the city will be contested, rather than just a third of seats as usual.
