Council to hike tax for residents by 9% after | U.Ok.Finance Information
In April, residents in Windsor and Maidenhead face a practically 9% council tax hike regardless of the native authority admitting to dropping £30 million to accounting errors.
The council, which has amassed over £230 million in debt, initially proposed a 25% tax increase to handle a £33 million funds shortfall.
After pushback from residents and marketing campaign teams, the Authorities capped the rise at 8.99%.
Nonetheless, the council’s spending information lately uncovered £30 million in discrepancies relationship back to 2021.
Council officers blamed staffing shortages and “human mistakes” within the finance division for the errors, the Slough and South Bucks Observer reported.
In response to officers, funds that ought to have been coated by the council’s day-to-day funds have been as a substitute logged as capital spending. This meant the council unknowingly overspent on day by day operations and had much less reserve than it believed.
It stays unclear who was liable for overseeing the accounts, and no definitive clarification has been given for how such a giant sum went unnoticed.
The council’s handling of its funds has sparked criticism from residents and politicians.
Windsor MP Jack Rankin has referred to as for the Liberal Democrat-led administration to take accountability, questioning their potential to handle public funds.
A council spokesperson has defended the tax rise, stating: “The Government has responded to our request to increase council tax, to help set our budget for next year, by granting us permission to raise council tax by 8.99% from April 2025 – an increase of 4% above the 4.99% cap.”
The spokesperson added that the council had initially sought a considerably larger increase of 20% above the cap, arguing that years of council tax reductions had made this rise crucial.
They acknowledged that the authorized increase was far decrease than requested however claimed it recognised the borough’s traditionally low tax ranges and their influence on financial sustainability.
The council can be awaiting a resolution on a Authorities loan, which should be repaid over a number of years. The assertion continued: “We will consider what this means for us while we also await an outcome on the other part of our Government support request, a loan which will need to be paid back over several years and which we will need to adjust given our council tax increase is less than we needed.”
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