Council tax bills in Brighton and Hove are to rise by 1.96 per cent, just below the 2 per cent threshold requiring a local referendum.
Members of Brighton and Hove City Council voted this evening (Thursday 28 February) on how much to charge for the coming financial year.
The meeting at Brighton Town Hall also voted through a budget of more than £710 million for the financial year starting in April.
The Greens and Labour backed the rise in council tax, putting up the bill for a band D property by £70 a year or almost £1.40 a week, to £1,287.
The precepts levied by Sussex Police and East Sussex Fire and Rescue take the bill for a band D home to £1,507.20.
The Conservatives called for council tax to be frozen at this year’s level.
Last year they voted with Labour to freeze council tax when the Greens had proposed a rise.
Councillor Gill Mitchell, leader of the opposition Labour group, said that she would have liked to have voted again for a council tax freeze but that this year it just wasn’t possible.
Opposition Conservative group leader Councillor Geoffrey Theobald said that putting up council tax would hit everyone, including the poorest.
Council leader Jason Kitcat said that it was “a budget built on fairness in tough times”.
Councillor Kitcat said that the Greens were delivering value for money and the biggest underspend in years.
