Final rubber-stamp for 3.9 council tax rise in Barnsley

Residents in a Band D property will pay an extra £64 per year, bringing their annual council tax bill to £1,705.57.

The increase will raise around £4m for the council to run essential services.

The council is also set to use £5.5m of its reserves to ‘further mitigate the pressures’ in areas such as social care, energy costs, school transport and waste services.

During today’s (February 23) full council meeting, Councillor Robin Franklin said that the council is facing a £35m increase to keep services running, and it has been left with “little choice” but to raise council tax.

He added that the legacy impact of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine is hitting the economy with low growth and high inflation, and told the meeting that “this has resulted in significant increases in the cost of living for all residents”.

“The Government yet again failed to provide long term funding by announcing a one year only financial settlement.

“Given the damage caused to the national public finances as a result of the pandemic, together with the ongoing cost of living prices, the future of local government finance remains uncertain.”

Councillor Kevin Osborne added that the increase is “one of the lowest council tax increases in the region,” and will allow the council to “deliver frontline public services…to keep our most vulnerable residents safe.

“Barnsley families, Barnsley workers, and Barnsley pensioners are worse off after 13 years of Tory government, one which which considers levelling up to be a town versus town Hunger Games, where local authorities compete against each other in a begging bowl challenge,” he added.

Councillor Hannah Kitching, leader of the opposition, said that she was “Not so pleased to see an increase in council tax,” which is “not so great for a lot of my residents, many of whom are those squeezed middle earners.”

The budget will see investment of £17.5m in frontline services, particularly in social care.

A £7m investment will be made to improve housing, schools, and roads.

A further £2 million has been earmarked to address potholes and maintain the borough’s roads and highways.