North Yorkshire residents face tax raise as council dips into its reserves to avoid frontline cuts

North Yorkshire County Council is faced with dipping £8m into its reserves to avoid making further cuts to its frontline services which include schools, road maintenance and waste disposal, it confirmed yesterday.

The 2021/2022 budget includes use of emergency government funding given to local authorities in the wake of the pandemic.

But even with this funding, the council said they are facing a projected cash shortfall of £59m by 2023/2024 without making savings.

Their proposals include a 1.99 per cent standard council tax rise, as well as a 1.5 per cent social care precept increase, leading to a 3.49 per cent increase altogether.

The social care precept contributes towards costs of running council care homes as well as care for adults with disabilities.

The proposed increase would see the average Band D resident pay an extra £48 in council tax next year.

The council said they were aware the tax rise could have particular implications for low-income families and disabled people.

A document setting out the proposed budget read: “The proposed increase in council tax could have a disproportionate adverse impact upon those with a disability due to the fact that disability benefits have reduced over time as thresholds for support has increased.”

Coun Carl Les, leader of the council, said: “We think it is right that we use reserves at this point so we can avoid rushing into savings that may be at the expense of services to some of our most vulnerable residents.

“The times have never been so uncertain, and given these uncertainties it is critical that the Council maintains as much flexibility as possible in order to protect vital services whilst being able to respond to further potential shocks.

“We understand that residents are facing many difficulties in the light of Covid. We also understand just how vital some of the council’s services are to the most vulnerable in society.”

Coun Les has refused to rule out another budget later in the year as the pandemic continues.

The council have spent £82m on their coronavirus response in the past year, and have said that cuts proposed before the pandemic began have been delayed.

£10.9m of cuts are proposed over the next four years, most of which were approved by the council last year, but £2.3m are new savings proposals which the council said are mostly back-office costs including HR and technology as opposed to front-line services.

The proposed budget will be voted on Tuesday January 26 by the Conservative-run council’s executive board before it goes before the whole council in February.