Council tax is set to rise after Dacorum councillors voted in a 1.9 per cent increase.
The budget was signed off at a full council meeting on Wednesday despite calls from Liberal Democrats to freeze the levy. The party said it would make it easier on struggling householders and the council would qualify for a £100,000 government sweetener. “Better budgeting by the administration would make a zero per cent increase easily affordable,” said Lib Dem Denise Rance.
But Conservative council leader Andrew Williams said the increase will bring in £172,000 and put the council in a better position for the future. “We have got to make savings over the next two years of £3million so we have got some real challenges, and we have looked to a budget which we think protects services in the longer term,” he said.
For the average Band D household it means an increase of 1p per day to £173.63 per year – a rise of £3.24 on last year’s charge.
If the council had decided to increase its share of the household bill by two per cent or more it could have triggered a local referendum.