A RISE in council tax rates is being considered by the council for next year as a way of balancing the books in the face of a reduced budget.

The draft budget for the 2015/16 financial year was published on Tuesday and shows the impact increasing tax would have if it was increased by almost two per cent.

No decision has yet been made on council tax, but council leaders say they are looking at all options. If the a rise is agreed it will be the first in fours years.

Following yesterday’s announcement by the Chancellor, the council should know in the coming days how much money they will be given from central governmen, but it is expected to be in the region of a 13 per cent reduction on last year.

This effectively means there remains a gap in the draft budget which must be filled before the final one is signed off early next year.

Any local authority which does not raise its council tax is entitled to a grant from the government which in Swindon’s case would be £830,000. However, this would leave a gap of £960,000 to be found in the coming months.

An increase of 1.94 per cent, the maximum allowed, would reduce this gap to just over £300,000. The overall tax base in Swindon has increased in the past year due to more houses being built and more residents moving into work and out of council tax exemption.

Councillor Russell Holland (Con, St Margaret and South Marston), the cabinet member for finance, said tough decisions need to be made.

“We are currently looking at all the options and are not ruling anything out,” he said.

“If you don’t raise council tax then people pay less money but then we have to make savings elsewhere, which is the dilemma we are facing.

“It is not unusual at this stage to be facing a shortfall and while I accept there are tough decisions to be made, we have worked hard to repeatedly balance the budget.

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  • Labour leader Jim Grant

“At this stage though I am not anticipating any major cuts to frontline services before the final budget is agreed to at full council.

“We would need a consultation on the process and there is not the time.”

The Leader of the Swindon Labour Group, Councillor Jim Grant, said: “While there is still a cost of living crisis for many families with average earning down by £1,600 since 2010, I think it would be hard to justify at this time a council-tax increase.

“The Cabinet Member’s proposed budget is still missing nearly £2m worth of cuts that the Finance Director thinks the Council will need to make next year, so it may be the Cabinet will have to increase council tax if no other cuts are found.

“Having not been party to all of the information on the budget yet, Labour haven’t decided our position on council tax and will make our final position clear closer to the budget meeting in February.”