Calderdale: Council tax rising 2.99% after £177m budget set
- Published
The budget includes a driver salary increase for private firm Suez, a council contractor which handles waste and recycling services in Calderdale
Calderdale residents will see a 2.99% increase in what they pay for local services after a £177m budget was set.
The move, agreed during a four-hour meeting in Halifax, will see an increase of about £35 a year to Band A council tax bills or £50 for Band D.
The budget includes extra social care funding, a driver salary increase for its waste and recycling contractor and money towards leisure centre projects.
Council leader Tim Swift called it "robust, balanced and sustainable".
Calderdale Council budgeted £150,000 to help drivers who work for private firm Suez in light of the national HGV driver crisis, with Labour members telling the meeting it was crucial to keep waste and recycling services going.
The Labour-led authority's budget meeting heard a supermarket firm recently stood outside a council main depot in an attempt to tempt existing drivers away, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
The funding also includes money towards a new leisure centre at North Bridge, Halifax, and a new heating system for the pool at Todmorden Leisure Centre.
Money to tackle planning issues, to overhaul the council's security system and additional staffing for the IT service desk was also approved.
Mr Swift, Labour, said significant money was being put into social care against a background which included recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, years of government austerity measures and added it had been "cautious about any new spending proposals".
But Steven Leigh, Conservative group leader, slammed this as "managed decline, uninspiring and ineffectual" and criticised borrowing he claimed Labour had undertaken for "vanity projects".
"We will be able to deliver on the people's priorities - fixing potholes, cutting the grass and fighting fly-tipping," Mr Leigh said.
Liberal Democrat-proposed amendments to Labour's budget would tackle fuel poverty, put more resources into monitoring air quality and scrap evening parking charges in Halifax, said Liberal Democrat group leader James Baker.
But Mr Swift claimed both Conservative and Liberal Democrat budget proposals ultimately "did not stack up."
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