Council tax hikes and an increase in authority housing rents could be rolled out in North Tyneside Council's next budget.
A draft budget and council tax report set to be heard at the council's cabinet meeting on Monday stated that council tax would increase by almost 5%.
Previously, the Government barred councils from setting the basic council tax increase at more than 2%.
If they wanted to increase bills further, they needed to hold a referendum of local voters, which they would have been almost certain to lose.
But Chancellor Rishi Sunak told councils that they can impose an additional 3% increase with the money ring-fenced for social care, without requiring a referendum. This means they can hike up bills by 5% in total.
As a result of this, the draft budget proposes a 4.99% council tax rise with 3% of this ring-fenced to pay for adult social care.
A report set to be heard by cabinet said that this hike, expected to raise approximately £4.958m, would help the authority protect those hit hardest by the pandemic.
It said: “In proposing this rise the authority has moved to protect those who will be hardest hit by providing discounts for council tax from one-off funding related to the pandemic and by continuing the authority’s work on poverty intervention.
“For the whole borough, the authority is directing those additional resources to important frontline services and investing in homes and jobs which will continue to make North Tyneside a great place to live, work and visit.”
Meanwhile, council tenants could face a rent increase of 1.5% from April, which the authority says is in line with Government guidelines.
The council's cabinet will vote on the draft budget on Monday.
