27 Febraury 2007
Eastbourne Borough Council’s share of council tax will increase by just 2.5% from April. The new rates were agreed at a meeting of the Full Council on Wednesday 21 February.
Despite inflation rising to over 4%, and despite another poor financial settlement from Government, the Council has kept its promise to limit any increase in its share of the tax to just 2.5%. This follows on from below inflation increases of 2% in 2005/2006 and 2.5% in 2006/2007 and means that over a three year period the Borough Council has limited its own tax rates to a 7% increase when inflation has risen by 10%.
Councillor Chris Williams, Cabinet portfolio Member for Finance commented “I am delighted that we have kept our promise for each of the three years since we were elected to protect our taxpayers from excessive rises, especially for those who are on fixed or low incomes. But I want to go further now by making a fresh promise for the future that where we have to increase the council tax we will continue to limit this to no more than inflation. This is the cornerstone of our commitment to our tax payers.”
“At the same time I am committed to finding extra money every year so that we can continue our policy of new investment into those services that residents value most. This has paid dividends for the town over the past three years and I want this to continue. We will keep involving our Citizens Panel every year to help us to make informed choices about the priorities for the future development of our wonderful town.”
