At tonights Full Council meeting we agreed to again cut our share of Council Tax.
In the last few years the amount each Council receives from Central Government has reduced and despite this we have found areas to make savings and generate additional income so that we offset this reduction in income without any loss of services. Indeed we are looking to get to a point where as a Council we have sufficient investments and business projects underway so that we can reduce our share on Council tax to zero by 2021
Last year we were just one of 2 councils who achieved a reduction in tax (we reduced it this year by 2%) and this coming years tax will be cut by 2.6%. The budget we have approved will also lead to a further cut next year which will Roll Back our tax to the lowest level since 2006 / 2007.
As well as structuring a shared management team with Havant Borough Council some years ago, more recent savings and income generation have been focused around waste contracts with better value, partnership working in the ‘5 Councils’ contract which shared a lot of administration and back of house resource and investment in property and new businesses.