Crawley Borough Council set to agree council tax rise

This would be the equivalent of an extra £1.44 a year for a Band D property, alongside increases put forward by other precepting authorities such as Sussex Police and West Sussex County Council.

Crawley is facing a 3.1 per cent reduction in ‘spending power’ due to central Government funding cuts, the second largest drop for all West Sussex councils.

A report due to go to Cabinet on Wednesday February 10 explains that CBC’s part of council tax has been frozen since 2010/11, and a 0.77 rise would be below the current rate of inflation calculated by the Retail Price Index (RPI).

The report explains: “In common with all authorities there have been significant reductions in Government grant, reductions that will continue in the coming years with no Revenue Support Grant being received from the financial year 2020/21 based on the latest estimates.

“Income from investments has fallen due to low interest rates. At the same time the costs of demand led services, such as homelessness and benefits payments, have increased.

“The council’s approach has been to seek to maintain or enhance levels of service whilst keeping council tax increases to a minimum.

“This has been achieved in a number of ways, including redesigning services, delivering efficiency savings and generating new sources of income.”

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