Bristol opens consultation on council tax increase

Bristol City Council has opened a new consultation to assess constituent’s opinions on options for the level of council tax for next year.

As part of the council’s 2019/2020 budget planning, the authority will be consulting on a number of options ranging from no rise in council tax through to a four per cent increase. The four per cent option would include one per cent reserved to help pay for adult social care through the social care precept.

The councils reports that every one per cent increase in council tax would raise approximately £2 million to support the delivery of services and would add approximately 31p to the council tax bill for band D properties every week.

Bristol City Council has identified over £276 million of savings since 2010, including £41.9 million savings which will be made over the course of four years from 2019/20 to 2022/23.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “Over the past two years we have put a lot of work into getting a tighter grip on the council’s finances so we can make progress with vital improvements needed in the city; more homes, more opportunities for our young people, more school places and a cleaner, healthier Bristol.

“During that time we have had to make some tough decisions about where we spend our budgets to meet the needs of residents without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. We have taken these decisions early in this administration to get us on track to meet our goals such as building more homes. Getting here has not been easy and many challenges posed by government austerity, rising costs and increasing demand for services still lie ahead. We’d like to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation, which is a chance to have your say about the money we raise through council tax.”

The six week consultation will run from 6 November–17 December.