The leader of Lincolnshire County Council has warned of gloomy times ahead – as he proposed a rise in bills for the county’s taxpayers.
It has launched a consultation on its 2025/26 budget, which includes a proposed 2.99 per cent council tax increase writes Local Democracy Reporter James Turner.
The rise is expected to generate an additional £11.7 million, based on the current council tax base, increasing Band D bills from £1,578.69 to £1,625.85 annually.
The Conservative-led council’s executive approved the draft budget during a meeting on Tuesday (January 7), formally starting the consultation process. Feedback will contribute to an updated proposal, set for the executive on Tuesday, February 4.
At that meeting, the executive will determine the final proposal to be presented to the full council during its budget-setting session on Friday, February 21, 2025.
Leader Martin Hill (pictured) has warned of a “difficult year” ahead following the announcement of the central government’s provisional local government finance settlement in December.
“We know these are very difficult times,” he said, claiming that Lincolnshire County Council is “one of the worst-funded councils in the whole of the country.
“Two things were very disappointing in the budget we received from government. First of all, they removed something called the rural services delivery grants which for us was worth £9.4 million. They replaced it with something called the recovery grant of which we got nothing.
“The second issue is the impact of national insurance contributions. There will be a direct cost to the county council for those people we employ, we estimate that to be around £5m. We only got just under £4m for that, so we are out of pocket there.
“The bigger sum is the issue of contractors we employ for all sorts of things. They of course will also have to pay the extra employer contributions and the government have given no extra money for that. That could be an extra £10-£13m cost coming to the county council.”
Coun Hill said some may argue that a five per cent rise in council tax – the maximum allowed before a referendum – would be necessary but he says the authority recognises that households and businesses are under a lot of pressure he says he is looking to protect council tax payers.
“Some households are finding it very tough at the moment, so what we’ve decided to do is to just go for a three per cent increase, subject to the consultation, which is around the level of inflation.”
