TOWN hall bosses are expecting a larger-than-planned increase in council tax, with bills going up by 4.65 per cent in the next financial year in a bid to balance the council’s budget.

People living in a Band A house can expect to pay an extra 94p per week or £1.40 for those in average Band D properties, council chiefs were to agree last night. Social housing tenants will receive a one per cent reduction in their rent.

The rise includes a £5 increase added to the money charged for the police precept and 1.99 per cent increase in the fire service precept.

About 86 percent of the total council tax bill is comprised of payment for Bury Council services.

Council bosses initially proposed raising their part of residents’ council tax by 3.94 per cent, but that was before December when the Government announced that it would allow local authorities to increase their adult social care precept by three per cent, rather than the previous two per cent.

But at last night’s full council meeting councillors opted to implement the maximum three per cent adult social care precept in addition to a 1.94 per cent general increase.

Justifying the overall 4.65 per cent increase to council tax, Cllr Rishi Shori, leader of Bury Council, said: “A decade of cuts has serious implications for our ability to provide the services that residents have become used to, but we will do our very best to protect services, particularly those for vulnerable people.

“The government has changed the way adult social care is funded and allowed us to increase the council tax by three per cent this year to help meet the huge and increasing demands for social care.

“While we have reluctantly done this, it just means the bill is being passed to local tax payers rather than being centrally funded.

“Besides which, it’s woefully inadequate to meet Bury’s needs: a one per cent social care precept will raise £710,000, compared to demand pressures of £3.7 million and rising.”

Council chiefs also confirmed there are to be severe £32 million cuts to vital services in Bury, setting a budget which will require the further savings to be made over the next three years, following cuts of £65 million made in the last six years.

Other decisions made include establishing a £10 million fund to improve the borough’s roads and tackle potholes over the next year starting in April.

Last year the council agreed to spend £500,000 on repairing the worst affected potholes.

A £100,000 fund will also be set aside to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping and £9 million will be spent on maintaining houses.

But the local authority warns that extra money they will get from council tax increases is still nowhere near enough to meet the increasing demands placed on services.

Cllr Shori said Bury was unfairly funded, receiving just £260 per head of population compared to the England average of £304 and the Greater Manchester average of £352.

If Bury was funded at England and Greater Manchester level, it would receive an additional £8 million or £17 million respectively.

He added: “However, we shouldn’t be defeatist about this.

“I still have aspirations for the borough, particularly around training, skills, new jobs, infrastructure and capital investment.

“This will be vital in a post-Brexit world, along with education and business and our anti-poverty strategy.

“As such, I’m looking forward to what the Bury Life Chances Commission, which I set up, reports next month.

“And despite this austerity, we have found money for social care and to address issues that matter to local people, such as the condition of our roads and fly-tipping.”