City residents to pay higher council tax

Residents in Hereford will face a sharp rise in their city council's share of council tax after the authority approved its latest budget.

From April, owners of a typical property in the city will pay an extra £9.31 per year to the city, a rise of nearly 16% on this year, which itself was nearly 12% higher than the year before.

Councillor Paul Stephens told colleagues at a budget meeting it had been "the most difficult budget" he had ever known.

"The main issues have been inflation and National Insurance, which have finally caught up with us," he explained. "This council tries to keep a very low precept."

Unlike Herefordshire's unitary authority and other major councils, a parish, town or city council such as Hereford's does not need to hold a referendum to pass a budget increase of 5% or more.

This is partly because its share of the tax is much smaller than the major authorities.

Mayor Dan Powell said: "What is being proposed is below the national average, and even with this increase, still much lower than comparable councils and lower than the town councils in Herefordshire."

Finance committee vice-chair councillor Ben Proctor added the sum would enable the council to "run the Zipper buses".

"We are not idly taxing people, we are trying to do something very positive for the city," he said.

All city councillors voted to pass the budget and its precept increase, with the exception of councillor Sam Potts, who abstained.

He said afterwards he objected to the council spending around one-third of its budget on the "black hole" of the free Zipper electric bus service.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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