Five pounds council tax rise looks certain

Lancaster City Council looks set to agree an extra increase for these households which would work out as an additional 95p on top of a £4.05 (1.99%) rise already suggested.

A final decision on council tax increase will be made at Lancaster City Council’s crunch budget meeting on March 2.

A city council spokesman said: “With the majority of properties being in Bands A-C, the actual increase will be less for most households.

“While as the billing authority Lancaster City Council collects council tax, it only receives around 13% of the total bill to spend on its services.

“Of the remaining bill, excluding parishes, the majority goes to Lancashire County Council (73%), with precepts from Lancashire Police Authority (10%) and Lancashire Combined Fire Authority (4%) making up the rest.”

The Government has given local authorities permision to raise council tax for Band D properties and this may apply until 2020.

A council report said: “Subject to no other budget changes arising, if council tax was increased by more than 1.99% then this would result in estimated balances increasing over the next two years.

“This means that more funds would be available to support the budget in subsequent years.”