Derbyshire’s Tory leadership prides itself on setting one of the country’s lowest Council Tax rises for the coming year – but opponents accuse them of offering cut price services that will ultimately cost residents more.
At just 3.75 per cent, Derbyshire County Council (DCC) boasts the lowest percentage rate rise for 2023/24 out of any two tier authority in the UK.
But the budget came under scrutiny at a full council meeting last night (February 15), with opponents questioning why the Council Tax increase had been set so far below the permitted limit of five per cent.
The rise will see an extra 80p per week (£41.55 per year) for an average band B household and for a band D household the rise will be £1.03 per week (£53.42 per year).
Deputy leader Councillor Simon Spencer said the Conservative administration had taken the ‘needs of the public’ into consideration, as well as the needs of the authority, when setting the budget.
“We all know households up and down the country are facing significant challenges with household bills, and Derbyshire County Council is not immune to those inflationary costs that everybody else in the country is facing,” he said.
But Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Ed Fordham said he was concerned the outcome could mean fewer services to residents, making reference to the closure seven council-run care homes for the elderly last year.
“I understand the impact on people’s budgets and their household expenditure,” he commented.
“But saving people £3 a week now so that they have to sell their home because we’re no longer a provider of care homes does not make it a better budget today in the long term, or indeed in their lifetime.
“It simply delays what might then be coming because of the way that we have structured our budget.”
He added that the Government had allowed councils that provided care homes to set a budget increase of two per cent for adult social care and pointed out DCC had only budgeted 1.25 per cent, which he claimed would lead to a shortfall of services in the future.
“You may levy less tax on the individual residents that we all represent, and I absolutely understand the strain on them, but the truth is, we are driving this authority down a route that restricts services, lowers attainment and reduces our ambition as a provider of facilities and of services,” Coun Fordham stated.
Labour leader Councillor Joan Dixon also raised concerns about the long-term effects of the budget, pointing out it had been balanced using £7.6million of earmarked reserves.
“The trajectory of our general reserve is worrying,” she stated, adding that in 23/24 the reserve was £19.7million, but by 27/28 it would be down to £12.8million, leaving the authority no resilience in the face of unexpected challenges.
Coun Dixon said: “I haven’t been reassured of the rationale why we are going for 3.75 per cent – apart from political reasons, that we’re in an election year.”
Speaking outside of the meeting, DCC Leader Councillor Barry Lewis said: “We believe the budget and Council Tax we have agreed will help us to protect vital services for older and vulnerable people and children, while being fair to our residents who are trying to manage stretched household budgets.
“We work hard to balance the books all year round but this year there are many external factors beyond our control which we have had to take into consideration, including inflation, rising fuel and energy costs.
“While we have welcomed additional funding from government for social care which will help significantly, due to rising demands for these services it is never enough, and we continue to lobby for further funding in this area.”
He said the authority would concentrate efforts on staff retention in the social care sector, which has experienced recruitment issues in the past few years.
