COUNCIL Tax looks set to freeze in Malvern after the district council announced its draft budget for the coming year.
Proposals for 2015/16 went before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Malvern Hills District Council last night (Tuesday) and at the time The Observer went to press councillors looked like they would agree plans to keep the tax as it was last year.
It will be the second time in four years Council Tax has been frozen and has been made possible thanks to the district council’s cost-effective leisure contract, the joint chief executive role and private sector partnerships.
This includes the agreement struck up with Civica to run parts of the Worcestershire Hub Shared Services (WHSS) last Thursday.
Coun Paul Cumming, responsible for finance, performance management and resources, said: “We feel there are enough pressures on residents’ finances at the moment and have found other ways to fund our services that avoids passing costs on directly to residents through their Council Tax.
“We are very pleased that, despite some of the largest cuts to our funding in history, we are still managing not only to balance our budgets, but to continue to provide high quality services.”
Further proposals will see the 2015/16 budget increased by £220,000 in a bid to put additional resources into waste and recycling throughout the area.
The earmarked reserve for economic development will also be raised by £100,000 to fund schemes which not only have an economic spin-off for the district but also help boost business rates take.
