Council tax rise confirmed for Rochdale but residents will get a 2% reduction again

People in Rochdale will pay more in council tax from April, as a 4.99 percent hike in the household precept has been agreed.

Of that, 2% will go towards adult social care. There is some – relatively – good news for bill payers.

Rochdale Borough Council has confirmed it will dip into its reserves to the tune of £2.28m to cover 2% of the rise to help people out.

It will mean, in effect, people will only face a 2.99% rise to the local authority element of the bill. The council said it needs to raise the levy by the maximum level to ensure as much future funding from central government as possible.

It means the average Band A household bill will rise by £74.15 per year and Band D household’s bill will rise by £111.20 per year from April.

 

 

The council needs to cover a £3.6m budget gap for 2024/5. Increase costs, inflation and increase in demand in children’s and adults’ services mean things are tight.

Declaring bankruptcy is still a long way off, council leader Neil Emmott told a meeting at Rochdale Town Hall, adding: “Up and down the country we see other local authorities issuing Section 114 notices. Rochdale Council is a million miles away from issuing a Section 114 as we have plenty of money to cover services where needed.

“I am proud to be able to give back this discount to every single household in the borough for the second year running. People would say ‘why not just put it up by 2.99 percent? It is because if we don’t increase it as expected it would have a detrimental effect on our future funding.

“Despite austerity and our financial prudence, we have been able to offer good services to our residents. We have not closed one single library, one single community centre or one single children’s Sure Start centre in the borough.

“This is a budget that maintains and improves our frontline services and addresses the cost of living crisis by reducing the tax rise for every single member of the borough. We present it with our shoulders back and our heads held high.”

 

 

The council tax rise will bring in £1.2m. Extra grant funding will cover the rest of the gap.

A Conservative amendment proposed £205,000 to bring back more school crossing patrols with reductions made for staffing of union reps, events and cost of publicity. This was rejected by a majority vote in the chamber.

 

Council Tax breakdown

Council tax is made up of four elements. The majority is made up of the general element, set by the local authority. The remaining elements are the ring-fenced adult social care element, which is also set by the local authority, the policing precept and the mayoral general precept. The latter two are both set by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The mayoral general precept partly funds the fire service and other Greater Manchester-level purposes like rough sleeping support and free bus passes for young people, whilst the policing precept is the amount you contribute to local policing.

 

Increases to the mayoral elements of council tax have also been approved, with the police element increasing by £8.66 for Band A properties and £13 for Band D properties taking those to £170.86 and £256.30 per year respectively.

The mayoral general precept element including fire will increase by £3.34 to £54.14 per year for Band A properties and £5 to £81.20 per year for Band D properties.
 

Read more: Council tax increase to fund GM Fire & Rescue ServicePublished: 06 February 2024

This is how much tax each council tax property will have to pay annually from 2024/25 in total:

• Band A: £1,553.49 (up from £1,479.34)
• Band B: £1,812.40 (up from £1,725.91)
• Band C: £2,071.32 (up from £1,972.46)
• Band D: £2,330.24 (up from £2,219.03)
• Band E: £2,848.07 (up from £2,712.13)
• Band F: £3,365.90 (up from £3,205.26)
• Band G: £3,883.73 (up from £3,698.37)
• Band H: £4,660.48 (up from £4,438.06)

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporting Service