Four per cent council tax rise approved by Rotherham Council's cabinet

Residents in a Band D property will pay an extra £67.49 per year, bringing their annual council tax bill to £1,754.73.

Without this increase, RMBC say they would have to make cuts in excess of £10 million.

The increase is made up of a two per cent increase in council tax, plus a two per cent increase in the precept to pay for adult social care.

The total four per cent rise is below the five per cent maximum councils can hike council tax by each year.

The proposed increase will raise an additional £4.8m to be split between council services and funding increased costs in providing adult social care.

During a cabinet meeting on February 13, councillor Chris Read, leader of RMBC, said that the council has faced £200m worth of cuts over the last 13 years, and has been ‘hit hard by the government’s policy of austerity’.

“The fact that the government has again refused to step up to match those pressures mean that we are facing a budget shortfall for the coming year.

“That comes down to the fact hat energy bills are rising for the council like they are for everybody else, inflation is rising for the council like it is for everybody else, and we have a national pay award that the government has failed to fully fund.

“We are conscious of the cost of living crisis and as far as possible we wanted to mitigate those, particularly for people on low incomes.”