Knowsley’s opposition has called for Council Tax to be frozen ahead of this week’s budget meeting.
The local authority is set to raise Council Tax by 5% at its budget meeting on Wednesday. This would be the sixth year in a row that Knowsley Council has raised its Council Tax levels and cost most households an extra £50 a year.
But Liberal Democrat group leader Carl Cashman has argued that the council should freeze tax levels in light of the pressures residents face due to the pandemic.
He said: “We don’t think that the burden of local authority funding should be passed onto to local residents, particularly during this unprecedentedly tough year with the pandemic.”
Cllr Cashman also accused to Labour-run council of not investing the extra money in the borough, adding: “The Labour group seem to be taking a Conservative approach, holding back most of their funding. Residents will be asking why they have to pay extra if the Labour-run council is going to keep the money in their back pocket.”
The council has previously said it will use its budget surplus and other one-off resources to invest in helping the borough recover from Covid-19, but is yet to reveal its precise plans.
Fuller details on how the council plans to spend its extra money are expected to be announced at Wednesday’s budget meeting.
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Cllr Cashman said: “I do hope that Labour listen to our alternative. Not raising Council Tax and investing more to help those less well off is the right thing to do, especially after we’ve been hit by the pandemic.
“We understand that a lot of people in the creative industries such as freelancers, artists and photographers have been hit hard by Covid and have been excluded from government support.
“We are working on something in our alternative budget to help these people.”
Council Tax bills in Knowsley have risen around 30% since 2016 following huge cuts to the council’s government grant which saw the council lose £100m in the decade since 2010.
Although the council now expects to return a budget surplus next year, a report prepared ahead of Wednesday’s meeting said it would still need to raise taxes as this was “expected” by the government.
The report said: “In recent years, the government has pursued a strategy of using Council Tax to sustain key services like adult social care, and is passing the burden onto council taxpayers rather than itself providing sufficient funding.
“Given the future funding uncertainty and the ongoing government strategy for funding local government services, foregoing permanent Council Tax increases (which are allowed and expected by the government) may leave the council in a difficult position in future years and lead to potential future service cuts.”
Cllr Jayne Aston, Knowsley Council's cabinet member for resources said: “Each individual political group in Knowsley has an opportunity to put forward their own budget proposals for collective discussion and agreement.
"To date, Knowsley’s Liberal Democrat Group has chosen not to share its proposal with the Labour majority council members for consideration. It is incredibly disappointing that they have chosen to share their proposals with the local media before, and indeed in the absence of any, constructive discussions taking place."
