Lincolnshire's 5% council tax rise was 'difficult decision'

Councillors agreed to the increase in council tax on Friday

Councillors in Lincolnshire have voted to raise council tax in the area by almost 5%.

The Conservative-led authority backed a 4.99% increase at a meeting on Friday. Of that, 2% of that will be ringfenced for adult care services.

The leader of the council, Martin Hill, said that raising council taxes will help secure frontline services.

The council opposition leader said there should have been more balance in the budget.

Mr Hill said: "The vast majority of councils are putting their budgets up by 5%.

"It's a difficult decision but the truth of the matter is that we have these cost pressures, and to maintain services we have unfortunately have had to put it [council tax] up by 5%.

"Our council tax is still one of the lowest in the country."

The increase of 4.99% equates to an additional £75 a year for a Band D property.

Overall the authority said the increase would raise an extra £22.7m towards the council's budget of £654.1m.

More money will be spent repairing potholes

In the meeting Lincolnshire County Council also voted to spend £7.7m of additional government funding on local services, including flood protection, mending roads and tackling anti-social behaviour.

The leader of the opposition, Labour's Karen Lee said that too much money was being spent on potholes.

She said there should have been more balance in the budget. She told the BBC: "If you think back to this time last year there was £7m [sic for roads], and in September there was £10m."

"It feels very much as if when there is spare money it tends to go to roads."

The final council tax settlement will be decided when local authority and police budgets are confirmed.

Lincolnshire County Council takes around three quarters of bills with additional charges from police and district and parish councils.