Council tax payers in Brighton and Hove will pay 7.5 per cent more towards the cost of funding Sussex Police in the coming financial year.
The sum, known as the precept, is going up £15 for people living in a “band D” property, from £199.91 to £214.91.
The annual policing bill for band D homes remains among the lowest in the country at less than £20 a month.
But the increase in the precept will raise an extra £9.4 million for the 2021-22 financial year which starts in April.
As a whole, the precept is expected to raise £135 million towards the £344 million budget for the year, up from £328 million.
Of the £344 million total, £315 million will be allocated to the operational budget – or revenue budget – for Sussex Police and £14.2 million to fund the Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner.
A further £14.7 million has been allocated to the capital budget, paying for “big ticket” items such as property, vehicles and IT (information technology) projects.
All 13 councils across Sussex, including Brighton and Hove City Council, have struggled to collect all the council tax due in the current 2020-21 financial year.
As a result, the police budget is expected to foot the bill for its share of the “collection fund” deficits, to the tune of almost £350,000 across Sussex in 2021-22.
The government has given Sussex Police “uplift funding” to recruit an extra 121 police officers in the coming year in addition to the 129 extra officers funded in the current year.
The budget and precept was signed off by the Sussex police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne and supported by the Sussex Police and Crime Panel.
