Leeds City Council’s annual budget proposals released

The plans confirm that, although the budget is set to increase by £86.7m on last year, around £16.5m of cuts still needed to be made to services due to spiralling costs.

According to latest proposals, the authority will have to shed 19 full time equivalent job posts, but will create 211 new FTE jobs.

It also includes a council tax increase of 2.99 per cent – split between core council tax (1.99 per cent) and the adult social care precept (one per cent). This means council tax for a band D property will increase by £45.24 a year.

The council says it will use the budget to put further support into looked after children, family mental health issues and care for vulnerable adults living at home.

Leeds City Council leader James Lewis (Lab) said: “The budget report shows how tough the challenge is to balance our books every year, and we face another difficult 12 months ahead with Covid sadly still with us.

“Every year the pressure on council tax increases as it needs to stretch further and further to support more services, especially those for our most vulnerable residents where we have rising demand.

“Across the council we are committed to working with all partners to invest in new flexible ways of delivering services to make them as effective as we can. We especially appreciate the financial investment and support from our NHS partners in Leeds to help us achieve these aims.

“Despite the ongoing difficulties caused by the pandemic, the city has shown strong resilience and we continue to be especially grateful for all our frontline and key workers, charities and volunteers for all their efforts.

“If we keep talking and working together as a city, showing empathy and compassion for all, we can achieve great things and deliver our ambition to make Leeds the best it can be.”

Early plans for the budget had been released in December, but council officers say a number of changes have taken place since then, including lower council tax receipts than had been expected due to “lower projected growth in housebuilding”.

However, a recent reassessment of how companies claim business rates relief is likely to lead to an increase of more than £7m in rates income.

The plans will go before Leeds City Council’s Executive Board on Wednesday, February 9. Provided it is agreed there, it will go for final approval at a full Leeds City Council meeting on Wednesday, February 23.

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