Council Tax set to increase again
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
Most local council taxpayers will see bills increase in April by over £100 after East Sussex County Councillors and Hastings Borough Councillors agreed their respective budget plans for 2025-26 at respective full council meetings in Lewes and Hastings.
The East Sussex CC share of the tax will rise by 4.99%, with a 2.99% increase in the Hastings BC portion. As a result, residents living in an average Band D home will pay £2,551 in the coming year–£114 more than last year. The new council tax bills will be sent out in early March.
East Sussex CC receives over 73% of the council tax revenue to fund county-wide services, including schools, social care, roads, and libraries. Hastings BC is allocated just over 12% of the money to spend on local services, such as providing temporary accommodation, environmental health, combatting fly tipping and initiatives to promote the town. The remainder of the tax is allocated to Sussex Police, which receives 10%, and East Sussex Fire Authority, which gets 4%.
The Leader of East Sussex, Keith Glazier, defended the tax increase saying the County Council had had to make significant savings to adult social care services and to use £11.4m of its limited reserves to set a balanced budget.
Cllr Glazier said East Sussex had seen “huge increases in statutory, demand-led services for vulnerable children and adults”, and the costs of maintaining these core services, which account for around three-quarters of the Council’s total budget, have increased significantly in recent years.” Without a “significant and permanent increase in funding”, he said, the Council “will have to consider more extreme options next year and beyond, including seeking Exceptional Financial Support from Government.”
The fiscal uncertainty in Hastings BC is equally bleak. Cllr Darren Mackenzie of the Green Party, the lead councillor for finance, said there was a net deficit of £29,000 in the Council’s finances this year compared with last year’s net deficit of £1.6m.
Cllr Mackenzie said the Council will have to draw down from its reserves to cover the shortfall. He warned that, without a more generous central government funding settlement in future years, Hastings BC would use up its current £5.6m in reserves within just three years.
This has been an exceptionally challenging spending round for both East Sussex CC and Hastings BC. There is no disputing the fact that both councils are facing very difficult budgetary decisions, given the serious reductions in funding over many years. The planned reorganisation of local government structures in Sussex over the next two years offers the hope of making some savings from promised efficiencies but, without a new funding regime, the threat of effective bankruptcy hanging over councils across the country will remain.
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