Council tax bills in Brighton and Hove are likely to go up by 5.2 per cent once the police and fire precepts are included.
It means that the bill for a typical band D property will rise by £109.60 from £2,118.31 to £2,227.91 for the coming 2023-34 financial year.
A few areas of Brighton, such as those in the Rottingdean parish, will receive a slightly higher bill once budget-setting is complete later this month.
Brighton and Hove City Council accounts for most of the bill, with its element expected to amount to £1,883.63 from April when the new financial year begins.
The Sussex police and crime commissioner’s precept is expected to be £239.91 and the East Sussex Fire Authority is likely to demand £104.37 for a band D property.
The police precept will rise by the biggest proportion – 6.67 per cent – pushing the bill up £15 a year or £1.25 a month for a band D property.
The decision to put the precept up by £15 was taken by the Sussex police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne and supported by the Sussex Police and Crime Panel.
It comes as the East Sussex Fire Authority is expected to put up its precept by 5 per cent for the coming financial year at a meeting on Thursday (9 February).
Councillors from Brighton and Hove City Council and East Sussex County Council are expected to approve the rise – equal to £5 a year from £99.37 to £104.37 for a band D property.
Brighton and Hove City Council is due to set its budget a fortnight later on Thursday 23 February.
The council is expected to opt for a 4.99 per cent rise – the maximum increase permitted without holding a local referendum.
A report prepared for the council’s Policy and Resources Committee on Thursday (9 February) said: “The administration is proposing a council tax increase of 4.99 per cent which includes a 2 per cent adult social care precept.
“A council tax increase of 4.99 per cent results in a band D council tax of £1,883.63 for the council’s element, an increase of £89.60 from 2022-23.”
The total bill for a typical band D property in Brighton and Hove is likely to total £2,227.91 a year – or £185.66 a month – from April.
At the same meeting, on Thursday 23 February, the full council will set the budget for the coming year, deciding what spending will be permitted and what savings will be required.
Thats more cash thrown into the wind.
Even more money to waste on pointless vanity projects that no-one wants.
Perhaps they should put back the parking spaces they ripped up which will lose the city millions in lost parking revenue. We can’t afford second bike lanes next to existing bike lanes.
The pointless duplicate cycle lane hasn’t just cost the Council parking revenues. When I have to drive across the area, increasingly I go through town to avoid the almost-always-jammed seafront snarl-up, or I drive further by heading out to the Bypass. I now drive many more miles because an East-West main road has been effectively downgraded, unilaterally by our blinkered and incompetent Council.
Another unintended consequence is I cycle less. I used to love riding along the seafront, but the perma-jams have made it more fumey and less pleasant. Like many, I prefer the old cycle lane for both directions, because it’s further from the traffic. Also, I’ve also been almost knocked off my bike twice by people opening their car doors in the now weirdly-detached parking bays.
This was never going to be popular. Although it is important to note this was limited by the central government, otherwise we would be looking at rises in line with inflation. Of little comfort for some, but at least at the area panels, they did push the council to monitor the impact it would have on people’s health.