St Helens records lowest council tax increases in country in past decade
St Helens Council can this afternoon be fairly pleased with itself, after recording the lowest council tax increases in the country in the last decade.
The council has increased tax by a total of 53%, but in real terms (once inflation is included) the rise equates to 16%.
In 1998/99 it raised ã38.1m through council tax, in 2008/09 it took ã58.2m.
The rest of the Merseyside councils plus Halton are included below (from lowest to highest):
Liverpool: 53% increase, 18% in real terms.
Cash taken in: 1998/99: ã83.5m, 2008/09: ã130.2m
Wirral: 60% increase, 21% in real terms
Cash taken in: 1998/99: ã73.1m, 2008/09: ã116.9m
Sefton: 64% increase, 25% in real terms
Cash taken in: 1998/99: ã65.2m, 2008/09: ã107m
Knowsley: 74% increase, 32% in real terms
Cash taken in: 1998/99: ã23m, 2008/09: ã40m
Halton: 124% increase, 70% in real terms
Cash taken in 1998/99: 17.3m, 2008/09: ã38.8m
St Helens Council leader Brian Spencer said: "The council has been recognised as a top performing Authority and it is our commitment to providing quality services while constantly striving for efficiency that puts us in a position to improve services even further while keeping council tax increases to a minimum during the past few years.
"In fact last year the council's score for use of financial resources earned it third place in the country as we continue to improve year on year offering value for money for our council taxpayers."
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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This is the result of years of Liverpool trying to posture as a low tax council. The resulting short fall in cash, next year and over the next 5 years, is damning. Liverpool took ã130m in C-Tax, from a population of 450,000, and 250,000 households. Wirral took only ã14million less, but from far fewer households. Liverpool's council tax base is especially poor, with a disproportionate number of people falling into Bands A and B, but this doesn't mean the council can neglect its duty as a service provider. It clearly has done - and the result is a huge financial short fall next year.