COUNCIL tax in the county is likely to rise by two per cent, bringing the average bill for a band D house to £1,246.

An additional two per cent social care levy imposed by central government is also being introduced, to fund care for vulnerable people, which will increase the figure to around £1,271. Council tax had been frozen for the last six years.

Wiltshire Council cabinet member responsible for finance Dick Tonge made the announcement today, when he unveiled the authority's budget for 2016/17.

All the proposals will have to be confirmed at a council meeting next month. Plans include putting up the garden waste collection charge by five per cent, area board funding may be cut by 10 per cent and paid librarians could be replaced by volunteers.

Leisure centres, music centres and libraries will stay open but the cost-cutting measures mean 200 job posts will be lost. "That is posts, not people. Some of those posts are vacancies anyway," Coun Tonge said.

There will be no annual pay rise for staff but their wages will rise by one per cent, as agreed nationally.

Social housing rent is to fall by one per cent for the next six years, under a government initiative.

Wiltshire Council has a £900m budget for the year, £587m of which must be spent on services like schools. The council has to save £28m to work within that budget. They have also had a reduction in government grants of £16.15m.

Coun Tonge said: “Pressures are there both on us and also the government is trying to solve the deficit problem and they are hitting local government very hard and we are the people who have taken the brunt of it.”

A large chunk of the budget is spent on vulnerable residents and £179m has been set aside for this. Coun Tonge described them as “areas of pressure.”

He added: “We have got an ageing population and lots of vulnerable people in the community and as a society we have got to look after people and it is very, very expensive. The pressure is just quite immense in that area – unrelenting.

“We are squeezing the organisation and increasing fees and charges to make it more efficient, delegating to towns and parishes.

“But it is not all bad news we are still investing in things such as health and wellbeing centres, broadband rollout and Army basing infrastructure.”

Residents are being invited to budget setting meetings followed by a question and answer session. 


Those wishing to attend can confirm their attendance by emailing events@wiltshire.gov.uk

Meetings will be held on the following dates:
1 February – Devizes Corn Exchange from 5.30pm
3 February – Chippenham Town Hall from 5.30pm
4 February – Trowbridge County Hall from 5.30pm
10 February – Salisbury Guildhall from 5.30pm